[Call of Warhammer - Rage of the Dark Gods 1.6] The End Times

[Mergor]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...senland_37.sav

[Ramble12]

Sent the turn to Nordland player on discord due to unavailability of TWC yesterday.

Here's the link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C_f...ew?usp=sharing

[Captain Melon]

Ostland up

[paladinbob123]

Count Valmir's spies still reported on the advance of Archaon and the tremendous buildup of the chaos armies around Wolfenburg, and the findings proved fearful readings of the strength , that evil had bought to bear on the empire....




but Valmir didnt have time to have the thoughts of how to defend the empire, for his portion of it, had been reduced to a trickle, and his responsibilities reduced to a group of wandering people that hugged the river seeking sanctuary. Last season he had rescued the count of Hochland, Aldebrand from a orcish siege, and in coordination with the emperors plans, the elderly count Aldebrand decided to push the boundaries of the empire, leading his troops southwards , to siege the orcish held city of Fortenhaf .

It took several meetings, with the two counts to coordinate efforts, and what was left of the Ostland navy to transport ostlands troops from Bechafen to coordinate all Ostland forces for the attack. By the time the last of the ostland troops reached the city , the hochland forces had made some primary siege equipment, namely lots of ladders to storm the walls.

It still took days to fully surrounded the city, and to ready for the assault, as recon reports, that several black orks and black ork destroyer companies where stationed within the city , and this time at least, it was reported that the orkish warlord of the city had a modicum of ability , so precautions were taken.

It was decided that Grandmaster of the Bull's forces ,would lead the attack even as the cannon spoke fire, and shattered walls making several breachpoints. The grandmasters army contained many generic empire troops but it surprisingly had several dwarfven companies who requested the honour of leading the attack , and the grandmaster, grimly gave his assert , knowing the ancient hatred they had for the greenskins. Dwarfven horns and drums rang out as the dwarfven troops banged hammers against shields and armour , likewise singing in sinister grim notes&dwarfven words, as the cannons played along in the background ,as all sides prepared for combat they knew must come.



"Ain't got time for fancy speaches! ..Lets just gut the green bastards!", cried the dwarfven battleleader as he raised his hammer high with both hands, to the chanting of comrades as they roared in agreement. As one the dwarfs bought their shields down ,to shoulder positions and began a brief jog towards the breachpoints eager to met the orks,face to face. Orks on the wall, hurled rocks, javelins or anything they could find at their oldest of foes, many dwarfs after the battle had many tales of being slowed by being hit by barrels of ale, which to the dwarfs was a lowest of low, that such a thing could be wasted as a weapon.

"Wait for it!" , called the grandmaster, taking a firm grip on his reins of his warhorse as it reared up , with a neigh, sensing the tension as the human warriors gripped their own weapons, reading to join the dwarfs who even now battled the orks in a battle to the death in the breachpoints.

"Wait for it!", called Leopold, stroking the horse, and patting it on the side, as the empires troops jostled between themself in the battleline, with several troops talking the opportunity of the lull to unbutton their breeches and reliefing themself , to the usual bladder problems that all faced before combat. But the grandmaster was waiting for a particular time in the battle, a area of the fight ,where the dwarfs would break the orks line, and the empires troops would pile into. Looking over the action, one area looked promising as a lone slayer , welded his axe, brutally slicing it and taking off a black orks leg, and then reversing it, to smash a downed orks head, before it had time to recover. Many dwarfs began to look to the slayer as the one to follow in the fight, gathering on his position, as the brutal killer pushed the orkish line ever backwards, as the grandmaster looked on eagerly , leaning forward on his saddle to get a better look at the combat .

The other dwarfs had soon occupied many of the orkish line of battle, pushing up behind their ernstwhile hero, giving the slayer a opportunity, as it took down first one ork and then other , with brutal slashing blows, that tore out necks , and arms, and as they fell , it looked up grinning and laughing , his face soaked with orkish blood and ichor. The last few orks in the slayers way was a giant black orcish destroyer and a ork carrying a clan banner ,who was trying to keep moral up ,for the orks high, as it keep raising the banner totem up and down.

The black orc destroyer had barely time to react to its new opponent but moved surprisingly quickly recovering, giving a murderous blow of its own , cutting a great gash in the dwarfven slayers side, a wound that would have fallen a mortal man instantly, but the slayer took a few steps back, laughed wildly , and used a fallen orkish corpse as board to leap high in the air, and moved with both hands raising his axe ,high in air. The giant black ork destroyer, gave a quizzical look of amazement ,at what was a dying dwarf that should be on the ground, as it leapt close to its face, as it bought its axe down on its head with a savage doubled handed blow ,crushing the creatures head into pieces. Even as the black ork body began to fall, the dwarf , grabbed hold of the body, using it to propel itself forward,but its weapon had locked deeply in its orks skull. Letting go of the axe, the dwarf sailed towards the orkish banner holder with the last of its dying momentum, as it the banner carrier looked on it horror as the dward headbutted him square on,, both fell to the floor in a heap, both unmoving, and the standard fallen to the ground, clearing a small gap in the orkish line.

"Thats it!", cried the grandmaster, as he called to his signaler, "Call the charge!" , he yelled, as he himself, spured his horse forward to that point , in the line of battle, to the sounds of the horn ,blowing out behind him and the empires troops cheering as they followed their commander in his wake. On the other side of the city, the troops of hochland , ran for the walls, bearing ladders, under missilefire from the orks, but the fire was lacing and distracted , as many orks had been called to the battle with the dwarfs which occupied much of the orks thoughts , as the battle swung in the empires favour.



---

At the end of the battle, the generals , leaders and counts held a brief celebration in the partially broken beerhouse, which seemed to be filled with many dwarfs, who suffering from many wounds but still fought for the best beer available that had been found in the buildings cellar.

"Where next ?" , asked Count Aldebrand to the others.

"Feck knows?" , answered the grandmaster before taking a stolen mug of ale from the tray, that was been taken to the dwarfs, much to the chagrin of many dwarfven eyes.

Turn to Talabecland[i will do tommorow]

[Mergor]

You guys can fight the battles in manual against orcs, you know that, right?

[paladinbob123]

You guys can fight the battles in manual against orcs, you know that, right?

noted

[paladinbob123]

Talabecland sent out a army to the east hoping to perhaps take the settlement of Kiel before falling back to around Talabecland river , the son of the count lead a small patrol of cavalry to clear away some orkish generals forced into their lands and have a little time to help stirlands siege for some much needed experience.






The league consolidated their forces around Ertburg and a diplomat was sent to the emperor with a small tithe of money as a gift.





Stirland took part in the siege of Krugenheim , taking the city with little loss, but a command came from the emperor to move to ertburg, but a nearby orkish army , keeps them in place at Krugenheim for at least a season until that threat is removed.




Turn to Averland
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qissgfmlfn...nd_37.sav?dl=0

[AdmiralThrawn]

Count Marius's armies advanced on all fronts, winning victory after victory. Tens of thousands of Orcs fell beneath their blades as they marched onwards. In the North, Mordheim, Templehof, and Castle Drakenhof were all captured, though the price was sometimes high. Elsewhere, armies continued to muster to war on all fronts, with the first Averland forces being sent north to aid their allies against the ruthless armies of Chaos.

However, all was not well in the Count's Court. A letter had arrived from the Emperor, demanding that the provinces once belonging to Stirland and Ostermark be returned. Count Marius crumpled the letter in fury. After three days and nights of deliberation, his response was issued:

The Count of Averland firmly believes that, at this war's conclusion, all the Empire's provinces should have their lands returned to them in full. However, until such a time as they have the forces to hold them, the Count of Averland shall hold all cities and castles he conquers in trust. A vast fortune is currently being lavished on reconstructing the ravaged lands of Sylvania, something Stirland and Ostermark can ill afford. Moreover, as Averland is currently tasked with protecting and conquering these lands, having them be accessible as resupply points and fortresses is absolutely necessary. With this strength and wealth, armies will continue to march north from here onwards to aid our Imperial brothers in holding back the tides of Chaos.

Signed,
Count Marius Leitdorf

Chaos up!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4r4wyc17ai...os_37.sav?dl=0

[paladinbob123]

bump

[General Dragon.]

Will be done tomorrow!


EDIT:
Reikland up!
https://www.sendspace.com/file/m3qn6r

Many Chaos victories, as with Archaon reaching the frontlines, the hoardes of Chaos armies unleashed their might:
https://imgur.com/a/3EfvoHk

[Mergor]

Sunday the latest, but likely done earlier, tomorrow or the day after

[Mergor]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...senland_38.sav

[Ramble12]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uyy...ew?usp=sharing

Nordland

[Bantu Chieftain]

I see middenheim&middenland need a lord. I fit the description.

[Captain Melon]

Ostland up

[paladinbob123]

The white trimmed beard of Valmir moved slightly in the breeze that brew across the armycamp , the whiteness of the hair showed his age and the stress on his elderly body , but his frame was still taunt and muscular , perhaps due to the long time in the saddle , particularly in this new age of hardship, the old mans eyes though were still still brimming with life and vigor as he looked over the map at the new progress of the empire.

In the north, The strength of chaos has finally moved, in a massive movement to the west, storming across the Wolfs run river, smashing away weak and depleted defenses,capturing Hochland cities, in a massive effort,no men could stop. In the south a full chaos army was spotted moving towards Wurzen and Wandergart , with nothing to stop them, as both cities had weak garrisons , with most of the populace already fled, towards the capital of Reikland seeking safety. Spies had reported of a great invasion in the south , as the armies of Averland, making ever faster progress, taking back mordheim in a superb campaign and took other old stirland cities, as they pushed the orks ever eastwards with battle after battle. Apparently some agents had reported the gathering of 3 ork armies at Kiel which had stopped the forces of Talabecland&Ostermark moving ever eastwards ,as they were lacking the strength in numbers to contest such a force. As for Nordland and the northern coast , no news had reached ostland, nor the actions of Reikland, Middenheim or hochland which Valmir presumed, were conducting somesort of strategy for facing chaos?


[red -chaos , green-orks, yellow-Averland , orange - league of osterland, Blue - Talabecland, black - ostland]



Valmir had planned perhaps to take the fight to Chaos perhaps striking northwards at the city of Kislev with the relieved forces of Hochland, but time was short, and agents reported that Chaos forces with kislev grew ever stronger, that such a approach of their forces would need to be protected against a enemy strike sallying out from the city. Such a approach was then either possible by the river, or by moving close and making a fortification , and then striking with the cannon company in the next season. Either strategy was possible, but the chaos forces at Kislev had built 2 flotillas which prevented a riverboard approach by water, and ostlands funds were non-existence, making building any sort of fortification impossible without the funding for the equipment and costs. Indeed the treasury of Ostland were now so empty, that most of the men, fought on just to be feed, [even the mercenaries] as all knew that their very existence , was on the line, and all knew that there was very little chance in the near future of reinforcements or funding reaching them, when the empire was in such dire need.

The Generals of Ostland looked over the map, and knew perhaps the last army of Ostland perhaps had a few more good fights in them, there was currently a strike at the beastmen temple, that currently valmir commanded the troops siegeing it, with the goldern clad mercenary army, and if that went well, they could perhaps move the cannon company southwards ,to perhaps even dare to attack the city of Heffengen , which would prove a interesting pinchpoint with averland taking mordheim ,trapping most of those orkish forces at Kiel in a orkish pocket.

Valmir mused at the pointing and pushing of pieces of the board, as general pushed around wooden peices representing troop formations with the shouts and plans of the generals, he banged on the table with his fist, calling the discussion to order..

"Enough ! .i say...Let us get to this fight at this beastly temple....let us worry about tommorow ....tommorow, after that is done...if this temple be taken at our hands , we will send word, to met you at Heffengen for perhaps the last attack of Ostland!", cried Valmir with a flourish, his voice still firm despite the fear in his heart.



The generals all nodded and moved towards their charges to make ready for the assault, and Valmir took to his horse, riding to the front lines, where the beastman temple was currently undersiege, the temple being hid behind the wooden walls, which protected their foul idol , would not stand against the rams , the ostland men had made.Eager for the battle, Valmir gave the signal to begin the assault and the rams began to slowly move foward towards the walls, to the furious calls and grunts from the beastmen within.

it took twenty minutes for the rams to do their work , smashing down the pityful walls, leaving splittered timber left and right of the holes made within it, but the beastmen were not finished , as some very experienced gors dashed out from the holes in the walls, overwhelming the ram crews within seconds, cutting them down with their inbuilt ferocity. Valmir blood boiled, seeing the counter, and calling the men to rally on him , leading a massive charge towards the foul things, unfortunately reached the combat way before the rest of the goldern footed carried mercenaries who lagged behing.

The old man of Ostland swung his runeblade left and right, cutting down his foes to the left and right of him from his height on his warhorse, as the beastmen swarmed out of the walls, called by their leader , which was somesort of shamanic beast , who danced and chanted within the temple.foul energies danced in the skys about the battle, suddenly the clouds darkened, lightening was called down from the heaven , forking as it approached the ground, hitting heavily into one of the companies of the goldern clad mercenary troop , who were hit by this massive bolts of electricity. Some of the mercenaries were cooked alive, the bolts hitting them in their armour, which jolted this way and that, as the occupant of the armours , there muscles danced a thousand jigs to the nervous actions of their nervou system as their skin blackened and smoked, before dropping to the ground, thankfully killed within seconds, but hundreds of the troops still stormed forward ,painfully aware of the losses but with now anger, mixed with fear , to get their revenge.



Valmir found himself in a dangerous spot, separated from his bodyguard and surrounded by enemies, still awaiting most of the army catching up , swung his runeblade left and right, chopping off one gor's head, with the blade glowing red with its inbound energy, as the blade come around ,it sliced downwards, hitting one gor in the shoulder, penetrating down at a angle to its hip, before Valmir bought the blade backup in a splatter of gore, but another gor had just rammed his horse, sending it tipping over sideways, with a snort of pain and surprise. Valmir, had the wit to slightly jump and roll sidewise keeping clear of the falling horse, and keeping the grip of his sword, as he got to his knees, looking up at the gors now surrounding his position, their foul mouths dripping with saliva in their happyness at their prey weakness. Valmir's horse , kicked out , and fought to right itself, contesting many of the gor, but Valmir lost his senses in his anger , first standing and then rather than taking a defensive stand, headbutted one of the gor to his front, sending it reeling back, whilst turning to his right, sending a horizontal mid-height slash, hitting a gor in the stomach. The blade, against grew red in colour , as the magics infused the blade made it razorsharp, and the blade, slide though the guts and torso of the gor, bisecting it inhalf, leaving the top part to topple away, with perhaps was a look of surprise on the gors face before it fell.

"To me! ....To me!" , cried Valmir, as one Gor raked at his back, leaving bloody wounds, Valmir spun again , the blade locking with a beastman who intersected the blow with his own weapon , a weapon perhaps infused with its own magics, but the oldman had survived a thousand combats, and without blinking his foot lashed out, taking the goatfaced monstrosity in the groin , with a following smash to its face with the pommel of the sword, it collapsed out of the fight. Many of the gor, now just swamped onto the oldman and his form fell to the floor , his blade still swinging out, but horns rangout as the goldern mercenaries had finally reached the walls. Several of the mercenaries swarmed over to where the old man had fallen, seeing his elegant clad horse still fighting gors, highlighting his rough position. The mercenaries in the goldern army switched to their phalanx linking shields as they approached , with blades poking out here and there stabbing out , as the shield wall held and contained the swarming gors. Shields smashed out forward, forcing gors to the ground or backwards , and the thud , thud of the tramping feet of the phalanx moved ever forward, impeccable...unstoppable.

It was thought the leader of ostland was lost, until near the walls, a pile of dead gor, shuffled, quivered , as some bodies shifted slightly and a mailed hand stuck out of the pile of the dead, standing a clear foothigh it waggled its finger, and a muffled sound was heard from inside the top of the pile, the men began dragging dead gors and men, away ,finding the old lord, was still breathing , although his body was drenched in wounds , he was carried in hero like status from the field, as the goldern clad mercenaries swarmed inside the temple, the beastmen main force now broken outside the walls in their haste to attack. The beastmen shaman hurled fire at the first mercenaries to approach, burning a few of them , alive, but even his great powers, couldnt stop the force availed against him, and finally he fell, to a javelin thrown from the men, seeking vengeance for their dead,as the many swords rang down on his injured form, as they hacked him to pieces.

Valmir dragged himself out of the healer bed, only his breeches still on , his chest bare, his scars glowing puck red, healed from healing magic, as he staggered from his tent, his head groggy from the aching pain of muscles, past wounds, and his old bones. As he pulled back the tent, the mercenaries were all crowded around the tent in a vast giant huddle ,stopped their talking, taking in the fact that the oldman had finally appeared ,they all turned as one, others not seeing his entrance , were nudged to correct their direction.

"Val.---aaaaa------miiiir!......Vaaaallll---a-------mmmiirrrr!", cried the goldern clad mercenaries in their hundreds, as they encircled the tent, moving evercloser inwards to see the old man,chanting out his name, some threw their goldern clad helmets in the air, as the men were delighted at their heros entrance and his heath.

Rico , the commander of the goldern clad mercenary troop, appeared behind the old map, casting a cloak around the surprised old man shoulders as the oldman basked in the acclaim of the men around him, before ricco slapped him on the back in celebration , much to Valmir chagrin , as he winced a the pain, but the mercenary leader did'nt seem to notice ,as he handed the old warrior a flask of vodka.

"You have won their heart.....yes? ..Now these men will die for you!", said Ricco , as he gave the old man another slap on the back just as valmir was swigging some of the vodka, forcing him to choke on a mouthful of the harsh liquid.

"Gods teeth!...what did you use to brew this stuff", said Valmir , coughing despite himself at the bitter liquid, before he turned to ricco and shouted to make himself heard against the cheers of the men, "Give them a day to celebrate, then give the men marching orders to move ,to joinup with the forces moving on Heffengen.", said Valmir ,before he waved once more to the cheering men, which received a roar of approval ,before he took another swig of the vodka , and disappeared back into the tent.



---------------

It took the mercenaries a few hours the next day ,marching west and then south to join up with the forces that were moving southwards who had slowed due to the cannon company they escorted which moved slowly , with the weight of the cannon , heavy on the pack animals that toed it. Valmir unfortunately had fallen from his horse, this time he pleaded that it was the vodka and not his exhaustion that caused the fall, but the army left him to stay behind at Bechafen [much to the armies dismay] , to be treated and recover with a honour guard. Ricco was appointed general , and took command of the the southern force of ostlanderman , which was combined with the remnants of the goldern clad mercenaries , as they sieged the city of Heffengen.

Initially the siege went well, with the cannon crew, making short thrift of the cities walls, but a sudden sortie by the orks leapt the cannon crew, and the protecting dwarfs slaughtered, [the cannon crew killed to a man], and the survivors blamed the mercenary commander, for not riding to their protection and leaving them out to dry, and that caused some conflict within the ostland camp. Ricco didnt have the personality of Valmir , so he ignored the dwarfs concerns , preferring to correct his mistake ,by leading the charge in the city, and personally acting with his bodyguard to kill Hardarma the throttler,its orkish leader, forcing the city back into Ostlander hands.



Turn to Talabecland [will do tomorrow with rest of turns]

[paladinbob123]

The forces of the 2nd army of Talabecland and the only league of ostermark army received news from the emperor in the shape of a new message urgently delivered from the capital of reikland. The men of ostermark awaited replenishment forces which hoped to bring their army to a full army strength to perhaps bring them to fighting fitness.


"Ertland is within danger, withdraw" , said the message, short and sweet, and having no choice but to obey the emperors decision, both army groups began to pickup as much supplies as they could carry, other food and equipment were placed on carts, or beasts of burden and the two armys formed two columns of troops with hanger-ons as they began to first move southwards down the road,then later heading southwestwards towards safer ground. The garrison left at Ertburg was agreed on by lots pulled and consisted of single adult men with no families to support ,as there prospect looked grim for the forseeable future, and they began to fortify what they could of the fortress town in such difficult days.


------------------------------------


Equally Sigismund the count of Talabecland received the same message , grimly crunching it up in his hands, before he threw it to the ground and stamped upon it. With the attack he hoped to do , to the east, to regain his lands,had stalled due to sudden increase of orkish armies at Kiel , one that had artillery , bringing the prospect of moving his forces eastwards , more risky and his advance had stalled .He didnt have the infrastructure to rebuild what forces he had, with the meager settlements he currently had. His supply situation was equally not good, with his current 2 armies making a considerable drain on the talabecland war chest, so much so, that that it was likely he would lose all the money he had, making replenishment, fortifications a impossibility further decreasing the capabilities of his men.


Yes, the emperor had called upon the other courts to lend back captured talabecland cities to ease his troubles, but most had nodded and then ignored the request, in this time of need, and who would depute them ,when they had the armies, the money and the material to keepup the struggle against the enemies the empire faced, but surely such a thing, would prove to be a problem for the emperor if chaos was indeed defeated , for the new distribution of power, would prove a problem for the emperor when other had more power, than the supreme authority within the empire.


Sigismund received reports that the 2nd army of talabecland was already withdrawing to this new line of defense, when he equally received notice that a chaos army was approaching the city of Wurzen, and it was travelling singly, without the strength of the chaos horde behind it. Knowing the value of a quick victory, and the morale boost defeating this force would give , it would slow the advancement of chaos forces in taking more of the empires land for themselfs. Sigismund called for his aide de camp, and they began to organise a double speed march to the north, to intercept this enemy force, hoping perhaps to take it by surprise, as they would be approaching from a far distance away, and the chaos army would have little notice of their approach. Such speed of course, would mean the cannon company would have to be left behind, as speed and surprise was more a factor here, and a navy on the talabec river would have to be called back from its patrol to the east, to allow a crossing, but it seems at the very least that such a attack would be possible.


Both Sigismunds force and another force that lagged behind marched north at double speed, reaching the river within a few days, and rested a day whilst they waited for the navy to arrived on the morrow, and they crossed during the late evening, and over the night, using the banks of the river, to keep the sound from travelling of their passage, and equally the lower banks sheltered the talabecland army from view from the chaos forces that had camped out on the east-west road that lead to Wurzen. Spies were sent out to check out the Chaos forces disposition and they found that the chaos forces had spent their time capturing villagers from nearby , who were then used for slave labour or for sport, by the chaos warriors within the camp, who had lost much of their humanity in their conversion to the dark powers.



Spies were left to continue to ascertain their forces, whilst the forces of talabecland , sneaked around to the northeast, occupying either-side of the forest, which was on either side of the road to Wurzen giving them a perfect position to ambush the far superior chaos forces, thought Sigismund, as he tried all he could ,to push the advantages of warfare to his side. He now had surprise ,[as far as he knew, as he thought the enemy hadnt seen his deployments] and a good position for ambush so that might adjust a battle to his favour, but the reports from the spies had now finished their examination of the enemy army and there was some new daunting news.


It seems the army considered of a considerable number of Chaos knights of horse [of what could be called a horse] , the majority however were Chaos warriors of foot, with some heretics and marauders making up the last quarter of the forces. Some weird units also existed ,which might cause the force of talabecland some problems, as the company of Chaos hounds, where know to be fleet of foot, so flanking could be a problem , if they where given a opportunity .The last problem was that their were some screamers of Tzeentch , which were airbourne troop, the trees at the moment gave them some cover from a substantial airbourne attack, but the forces out in the open , securing the road, would indeed be vulnerable. Sigismund considered the problem , and sent some men , deep into the forest, to make some stakes , to give his troops some cover from rapidly moving troops, the hangunners were briefed that after the main battle had started that they would be responsible for keeping the airbourne screamers away from the battle. As for the problem of the strength of the Chaos warriors that would need more thought. Sigismund slept on the problem , and in the morning he had a risky answer for the idea.


-----


It was around miday , when the chaos camp was ripped by firearms fired at range, at the Chaos hounds and they howled in their anger at such a attack, as their bloodlust rose, the skirmishers peeled off their attack and danced away on their horses back down the road to Wurzen, and the Chaos hounds not given much to orders, broke from the camp, and pursued them ,much to the chagrin of the Chaos General who commanded, annoyed perhaps less at their discipline, but more that they didnt fear him enough that they disobeyed orders. A little way down the road, the skirmishers darted behind a line of men who had formed a rough defensive line of stakes .Behind the stake was a company of empire handgunners and a dwarfven company of thunderers, behind them lay three companies of halberdiers. with more men behind. But the Chaos hounds had no thought for tactics , or for any type of rationalization , as the bullets from the firearms hit them. Two volleys the firearms got off ,before the Chaos hounds reached the stakes , with some perishing on the sharpened timber points, and the others that did break though ,had been diminished, due to bullets, stakes , were finally finished off by the halberdiers.


-----------


Count Sigismund looked at the removal of one of the threats to his position with much happyness, as his plan was coming together. He planned to hold the centre, with his firearms behind stakes, and forming a halberdier wall behind that with some of his most experienced troops who had survived many a campaign. Behind the halberd line, was a group of 4 companies of spearmen , enough perhaps to reinforce the halberds with mass ,if the warline was in doubt. Behind them was a single experienced company of swordsmen, and the knights panther of his bodyguard who he had dismounted to fight on foot as a final reserve, a sign perhaps ,of Sigismunds determination to fight this one out, rather than having the horses ready at hand to flee if the situation draw worse.


As for the other half of his men , he had them split into two groups of swordsmen and they hid in either side of the roadway , to remain not seen in the woods, in advance of his position , to strike when the time , was right. It was perhaps a chancy move if they were found, but if his mainline could absorb most of the enemy strength, they would perhaps prove decisive .


----------


The Chaos General was now roused to anger, and annoyance , as his army readied for war, the small weak human position of troops in the road ahead of them had been spotted, and news of the hounds dying had been noted. He was a experienced campaigner of many battle for the powers of Chaos , and he knew that his Chaos warriors would be the major factor in the struggle ahead, the matter of whether to use them early or not had to be made. Usually in such situations he would usually send in his fodder first, let the enemy bled over that, before sending in his heavier troops, but the dense forest either-side of the road, would be difficult for his far bigger and bulker armoured chaos warriors , to transverse the battleline which held the road and the clearing eitherside. Equally the humans ahead, didnt have much in the way of firearms, nor any artillery ,so he foresaw little difficulty for his heavily armored chaos warriors to smash their way though their lines, when there numbers were so few. Besides he wanted revenge, for the early surprise and defeat of the hounds, and this attack could break the forcesquickly in front of him, where perhaps he could follow behind them as they retreated ,perhaps making a easy entry into the city away to the east, as the opened their gates, for the retreating troops.


There were of course still the screamers who had climbed into the clouds above, but he had little command over what they would do, as they seemed ever to do their own thing, unpredictable as always , so he discounted them from his calculations and decided that he would give the chaos knights a chance , besides he could already see the knights fighting against the need to spill the blood of their foes, just barely restraining their augumented horses, which had been changed by the power of chaos into mighty beasts, who equally sought death and blood , and they would probably attack anyway soon if he didnt give them the order to attack.


Thus the chaos general gave the chaos warrior knights of horse the order, to attack the foe in front of them, and this they did with relish their giant mounts, eager for the chance for blood and chaos, as they bore down on the line of missile troops of the empire.


-----------


"Steady lads.....Steady!" , cried the dwarf as he held back the thunderers till the Massive Chaos knights came within range.




"Fire!" , he cried, and the battlefield was hit by a blistering noises of all the firearms going off, with a great cloud of smoke and dust , hanging in the air of the battlefield, as the handgunners and dwarfs rapidly repeated the drill to reload their firearms was inacted, just as another call of....


"Fire!" , was called, as the 2nd line of volleyfire was unleashed, bullets hit the chaos warrior armour , bouncing off in some areas, missing completely in others, but here and their some shots , made their mark , penetrating the giant armour of the mutated men , but they were so inaugumented ,that such pain did little to their onward movement.


"Fire!", came the call , and the clear distinction between the Pfftt..Pffttt fissile of the handgunners weapons of the empire....and the Whap-oooon of the Thunderers weapons was clear from the noise each made,as yet another volley was fired into the charging chaos warrior line. Now all the firearms shouldered there arms and retreated behind the halberdier line, and the grim experienced halberdiers , took their positions in a phalanx, points bristling from all angles from the front, as the veterans gripped their weapons from behind stern committed looks. From behind them strode Sigismund his Wyrmblade unsheathed, as it glowed a eirly green colour in the daylight, his magical white cloak flapped this way and that, in the slight breeze making him a noticeable figure on the field of battle[the cloak had been given as a gift from the college of mages] and he moved to the front of line, to bolster the halberdiers spirits.


"Hold the fekking line , men!....This is our hour of glory.....Whatever happens...... this line must stand!", shouted the count ,so all could hear, as he held his sword aloft.


"Haaaahhhh!" , shouted the halberdier troops , as one their weapons braced ready for combat.


The line of chaos warriors hit the stakes, breaking some with the weight of their charge, here and there, the odd chaos steed, picking up crippling wounds but still they would not stop , even in some places the buildup of chaos hounds dead, proved a obstacle, but the chaos knights didnt stop , only they slowed....but perhaps that was enough, as they collided with the halberd line. The line of men shuddered at the physical blow of the heavily armed numbers, as men shuffled backwards, pushed back from the impact, but the footsteps soon firmed, held tight from the lines behind, and soon they began to push back , determination etched in their faces, with many armed points between them and their foes. The Chaos knights were surprised at such resistance, their weapons hitting out , killing the odd halberdier here and there, but the line held, even Count Sigismund leapt forward at one point , his blow, decapitating a Chaos steeds legs, forcing it to the ground, where the heavily armoured knight , was vulnerable for a second, and Sigismund , slid the deadly blade in a gap in its armour, perhaps scoring the first of the many kills to the Chaos knights forces.


-------


The Chaos general was annoyed at the lack of success of his mounted troops, as he saw them struggle in a melee of titanic proportions, at their main battleline, it looked as if they had pushed the habelder line back some, but other than that, its was still in the balance, and cavalry was always going to be vulnerable to a firm phalanx . He was still disappointed that the empire troops hadnt broken, but it looked like they had more mettle than usual,but he began to grin when he saw signs that the screamers were descending from cloud cover, knowing they would attack from above.


"Give the signal for the knights to withdraw" , he called to the drummers , and they began to beat out the signal to withdraw from conflict. But this was to no avail, as either the knights didnt heed his call for them to withdraw , either that or they were just ignoring it, in the bloodlust of battle. Either was possible , he mused, indeed , he was much the same, in the past.


But still they would be pushed back if nothing was done, but this battle had a bad flow to it, as he liked to dictate the battlefield, rather than react to events. He grunted again, checking again, trying to isolate the source of his distrust and discontent, shrugged once with his massive armour, as he observed another Chaos trooper had fell in the distant battleline and knew he had no choice but to reinforce the attack, as he gave the signal to the drummers for the main body of his army , the chaos warriors of foot to advance in their heavy armour.


---------




The Screamers darted down out of the skies, with a weird piercing howling sound as they dived down searching for targets, they seemed to have the shape of a otherwordly blue coloured giant floating skate in the sky with various limbs and teeth. Handgunners and Thunderers re-sighted their guns on the descending demons , reading for when they got close enough for the shots to have impact.


"Get ready to fire!" , said one of Yeomen , one of handgunner subcommanders and all pointed there guns to sky, but one human had just returned to the field , having just relieved himself in the trees, and was not aware of what was occuring.


"what is happening?" , he cried, his gun in hand.


"Ya Dobber! Damn Humey ...Danna look up in da sky?....Cannae not see the wee beasties?" , shouted the voice from one of the thunderer's as he sighted his weapon.


"fire , when ranged!" , came the cry , and guns exploded with small bursts of fire and light, as bullets headed skywards, and the young gunner, disappeared in the clouds of smoke ,not having time to spot a target.


A few troopers where taken from airbourne attacks, fixed in the cruel beasts attached,carried off to whatever fate,a few dozen of the foul beasts were sent groundwards, wounds perhaps infringing on their flight, as the impact with the earth, finished them off, and the rest , satisfied at the damage they had wrought, flew up again, whether they would return . nobody knew.


At the frontline however the Chaos warriors had arrived, and they threw their considerable bulk and strength into the pitched battle, between the mounted knights of chaos and the halberdiers. The weight of mass of this new foe, with its powerful furiosity and violence, near broke the line at first, but certainly sent a company of two troops reeling backwards , Sigismund stepped back out of the fighting ordering the spearmen ,the reserve swordsmen company and even his own bodyguard, the panther knights[on foot] into the line. The sudden arrival of new fresher troops and some of those with considerable better armour stiffened, the line, and the battle again turned into a quagmire of attrition as ,blows where exchanged, in a weird type of draining game began, where each hoped to break the stamina of the other.




--------


The Chaos General saw again his grand attack stalled on the road, as the impact drove the defenders back , but after they had committed what appeared to be their last reserves to stablize the line, it looked as if they had nothing left, and this was perhaps the chance to finish these weakenlings. Looking backwards he saw he still had his own weak men, heretics they called them , maraunders who lacked armour but would perhaps be able to use the forest to flank the enemy force ,now their main force was committed and pinned in place. Drawing his own weapon , he called back from the camp, summoning the plaguebearers, who moved forward dropping bile and other unmentionable things, and sent that into the centre of the fight, then commanded the leftover men of chaos to divide into two companies to flank through the trees and hit the empire troops from the sides and rear. As the chaos forces finished their last movements, he mounted his own stead, and rode forward to combat ,to keepup the pressure on the main battleline, as he waited for his victory to be assured.


-------




The pressure on the main battleline was extreme, as the count elect left the battlelines in the current rotation of their forces, to try to keep his men from the crippling fatigue faced by fighting this augumented men of chaos, it was truly exhausting and he knew they could not hold out for much longer. When he had his breath back , he lifted a brown coloured horn and sounded a note from the magical horn of urgnok, which gave his men, morale , support, and some invigoration. Men dimmed with fatigue, stoodup once again, sudden vigor filling their limbs as they rejoined the conflict, filled with sudden confidence that the emperor had their backs. Drinking another swig from his vial of vitality , Sigismund caught his breath, new stamina surged again in his limbs, his swordarm felt empowered and strong again as he dived back into the melee.

Seeing the marauders and chaos heretics move towards the treeline to use the woods , a sudden horn blast rang out from the forest, followed by a howl of mens voices, as a horde of empire swordsmen burst out of the woods from both sides of the road&clearing. The shock of the attack , pushed them deep into the chaos heretics and marauders lines, their blades, scoring easy kills with the sudden surprise and impact, the lack of armour on the chaos forces, proving advantageous to the men of the empire, proved to be decisive , as they cut their way to breaking the enemy in front of them , as finally the commitment and fanaticism of the chaos forces faltered against those fighting for their families and their homes.


As the chaos rabble fled, the swordsmen , turned their attention on the mainbody of the chaos army now fighting in road,and cleaning , flanking them ,surrounding them fully from the sides and rear, making a complete encirclement of the chaos troops possible. The Chaos warriors were now bunched in together with their heavy armour , didnt have the maneuverability to swing swords, or turn around to fight, even the plaguebeareres became a liability ,trapped in the middle of he chaos pocket, unable to do much.


It now camedown to a battle of attrition as the chaos warriors limited in room , where slowly ground-down from all sides,there forces had limited room for combat with a bare minimum of their combat force in use.The men of the empire however, dictated the battle, rotating men in and out of battle,draining the superior aggressive power of the chaos warriors. The plaguebearers still fighting fit [ a relative term there] fought there way free in a sudden breakout, and the Chaos general seeing which way the wind had turned, grabbed as many chaos warriors as he could rally nearby, and used the gap to escape with his small force, as the gap again closed, and the annihilation of the last remaining chaos forces continued for some time.




-----------


It was dark ,before the last of the Chaos warriors had been felled, and it had took around a third of his army, but it had been done, perhaps first blood unto the Chaos warrior horde, the price had indeed been grim, but the chaos warriors remnants had fled to the west, and the field was his, and Wurzen was perhaps safe, for the moment, but his men were exhausted, but elated. Without taking the time to enjoy the spoils he ordered his men back to the ships , to help what wounded they could, to return home,.... to Talabecland.





The men of Stirland could go no further eastwards, for Averland had pushed deep into orkish terrority reclaiming Mordheim to the east, and to the northeast, lay a concentration of orkish forces at Kiel. They therefore took the middle road, moving to send forces to the new relocated league of ostermark/Talabecland camp, hoping to bolster the forces reading to do what they could against the Chaos threat to the north. There was some good news however in this time of pain , as a nobleman married a wealthy daughter of a prestigious family, and the count elect encouraged such a thing, indeed he even put some coin into the event, to enlarge the celebration, to bring some good cheer and hope to his people at such ill times .




Turn to Averland
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r5jnplji5l...nd_38.sav?dl=0

[AdmiralThrawn]

Sorry for the delay, it's been a hectic work week (we're releasing a big new version of our product). Will try and play tonight!

[AdmiralThrawn]

Goddamit. Crashed right near the end of a big battle I was about to win ... Either way, turn is coming along. Lots of battles to will take a bit.

Update: So that critical battle keeps crashing. I easily win it when I play it out, so I'm PM'ing Dragon to see if he can auto-resolve it for me. Sorry for the delay!

[AdmiralThrawn]

BTW, can somebody send me an invite to the TW hotseating hub on discord? I left on accident not realizing I wouldn't be able to ping Dragon on Discord. Thanks!