Blood in the Badlands

Pigmar Warhammer Campaign

Summer Turn 2 – The Siege of Barak Varr

“Quick, prepare the defenses! The Vampires are coming” screamed the messenger as he ran through the gates of Barak Varr. Caspar had known the vampires would strike soon and had time to plan his defence – even unearthing some hidden passageways to allow for swift redeployment when the attack came.

The vampires had poisoned the water supply into Barak Varr, causing a number of the troops to suffer from a terrible illness and eventually join the ranks of the undead.

The enemy quickly surrounded the outer fortress, terrible giant bat-like creatures howled their blood-lust to the flanks of the defenders. One being accompanied by dire wolves. To the main gate, the ghoul king and his brethren made ready a siege tower and a battering ram. The time to fight had arrived.

The ghoul king wasted no time in assaulting a key tower to the right of the fortress with the help of his crypt horrors. The flagellants holding the tower were butchered but not before taking the ghoul king down with them, the power of Sigmar strengthened them to deal with the foe and push them back from the tower. Caspar encouraged his swordsmen to hold tight against the varghulf, forcing it back from the wall. The local militia on the other wall bought their varghulf down, buying them time to support the handgunners being assaulted by a ghoul driven siege tower. The mortar was assaulted by the wolves, just holding on and forcing them back from their tower.

Caspar concentrated his magics on his troops, making all their equipment glow with a heavenly light. Knowing this would guide their aim, he waited for the undead’s next move.

Rockets and mortar shells flew over head as a necromancer took hold of the winds of magic, holding the undead horde together to make their second assault. Once again they were repelled, though the men of the Empire were beginning to tire. The handgunners on the left, fled their tower allowing the ghouls to gain a foothold. The greatswords, holding the gate, lived up to their name taking down the battering ram before it had chance to smash the gate. The recently poisoned troops were raised by foul magics and shambled towards the gate.

Sensing the zombies in the courtyard, Dietrich Naubhof unleashed a magnificent ball of light whittling them down to a lone figure. Once again the undead had been repelled, the forces on the left flank had been sent back to the grave. The defenders now had time to concentrate their forces on holding the main gate and towers of Barak Varr.

Once again, the varghulf assaulted Caspar’s trusty swordsmen. In it’s crazed state, it managed to scatter the stalwart men causing them to abadon the wall and make it back to the courtyard. From outside the castle, Caspar heard the sound of pistol fire, perhaps reinforcements had arrived. They were not alone after all.

Rallying his swordsmen to his side, and turning to face the beast on the wall, Caspar attempted to unleash a lightning bolt to send the beast back to whence it came. Unluckily, his bolt was turned aside before it struck its target. Seconds later, a cannonball smashed into the side of the beast spraying blood and decaying flesh across the stone. The remaining ghouls made one last assault against the flaggelants that were now drunk on dwarven ale. Instead of impairing their combat skill, it improved it! Taking all but two ghouls down as the pistoliers entered the gate.

“Greetings Caspar” spoke the Outrider, “We form an advance party from Grand Master Lukas, the siege will soon be broken.”

The undead had been repelled from the army’s capital, many corpses were burnt though that of the ghoul king was not found…

Og’s new hat

“The mine was lit by Torch Gnoblars, each holding a pig-fat soaked rag on a stick.

Og swatted at the more mischievous ones as he was guided down the tunnel by the Ogre Slavemaster.

At the end of the tunnel was a large chest. Upon it’s discovery Og had ordered that he and he alone would open this chest to take whatever reward was inside.

Grabbing his trusty club, he swatted the lock to reveal ….. a hat? Brown and drab in colour it didn’t look like much.

Og confused picked up the hat and put it on. The hat instantly changed into an Ogre-size helm. He laughed as its’ power surged through him.

“Hit me!” He ordered the Slavemaster. The slavemaster drew back his whip and lashed it towards Og. He looked confused as the whip got nothing but thin air. His confusion lasted but a second as Og, now beside him, smashed in his skull with a hearty laugh.”

Og the Mighty now has the Trickster’s Helm in addition to his other equipment.

Summer turn 1 – The 2nd siege of Mount Bloodhorn

When Haldor returned to the fortress at Mount Bloodhorn, all was calm. The noise of the epic struggle had died, along with scores of troops on both sides. Despite the strength and tenacity of the besieging Bretonnians, Haldors standard was still proudly displayed above the gate. The garrison had been well tested, but had held the walls, despite terrible casualties. One unit of warriors had performed particularly heroically, holding a key section of wall and turning back constant assaults from a siege tower led by the Bretonnian lord himself. Haldor proclaimed these the best warriors in his entire army and named them “The shields of Haldor” (20 Warriors, shields, command, mark of Tzeentch, always strike first). Haldor had bought reinforcements to bolster the garrison. Now all that was left to do was burn the dead and sacrifice the captives. The gods seem to be favouring Haldor so far.

The Bretonnians begin the assault

Haldor turns up, kills a champion, then goes home.

The death wizard ... dies (taking a few marauders with him)

The unit of "Paladins" finally capture a wall

The heroic warriors hold the wall against the siege tower

The ogres (with frenzy, hated & +1 attack) hold off the grail knights

The glorious dead, may your souls feed the dark gods

Battle for the West Watchtower of Barak Varr – Summer Turn 1

Gunnar’s army rushed towards the watchtower. The handgunners inside had sent a message not long before saying that the Dark Elves were approaching. Gunnar wouldn’t let their lands be taken by these worshippers of the dark gods. Rumour had it then some of them worshipped the god Slaanesh, perhaps they may have some information about the whereabouts of von Barbe.

Gunnar stood proudly at the head of Wolfgang’s Cleavers, a unit of Greatswords that had recently won renown after slaying a Vampiric Battle Standard. His good friend, Lucius Macholt also accompanied him as he surveyed the field. To his left were a unit of swordsmen accompanied by the battle standard, Waldor Hoch, and the warrior priest, Otto Meyer. To their left stood their detachment of crossbowmen aided by the fire wizard, Stefan Feuersturm. To the far left of the battleline, a small unit of Knights Fidelis waited for a chance to strike against the enemies flanks. To the right of Wolfgang’s Cleavers, a mob of flagellants wailed and screamed waiting to throw themselves into the enemy. Finally, Maximillan von Schippel, master engineer, stood on the right flank with his Helstorm Rocket Battery and trusty Nuln-forged cannon.

Opposite Gunnar, the dread host of the Dark Elves had gathered. A unit of elves with menacing helms and viciously hooked blades held their centre with spear and crossbow armed elves on either side. A unit of mounted dark armoured elves tried to control their fearsome, scaly mounts as they snapped and roared waiting to tear into the flesh of the humans they opposed. Their leader held aloft a purple blade that swirled with malevolent and mystical energies. With a cry to ‘Khaine’ the Dark Elves launched their assault.

The elven army surged forward, taking pot shots at the handgunners hiding in the tower. From the screams, Gunnar guessed six of them had been struck. They really were great shots. Surveying the battlefield, he saw some spectral figures attack the elven warmachine and Stefan mouthing an incantation, no doubt to stop the cursed dark magic. With a whoosh, a rocket flew over the heads of the flaggellants and crashed behind the tower. From the smell of burning flesh and the high pitched wails, Gunnar knew Max had found his mark.

The dying screams of the handgunners echoed from the tower as they were brutally slaughtered by the Elven captain and his company of scouts. Not about to let their deaths go unavenged, Gunnar and Wolfgang’s Cleavers charged headlong into the tower. The flaggelants to his right mirroring his movements and charging towards the spears of the enemy. The flaggelants smashed through their enemy, opening the way to the dreaded bolt thrower. Meanwhile at the tower, Gunnar challenged the Elven captain and severely wounded him.

The Elves continued to storm forward, with those mounted on reptilian beasts charging towards the knights. The Knights failed to hold up the charge, the power of Malus Darkblade proving too much. Gunnar continued to assault the tower, challenging the Elven Captain at every opportunity leaving Wolfgang’s Cleavers to slaughter any other elf garrisoning the tower. The remaining flaggelants were shot down, leaving just the Prophet of Doom to charge the bolt thrower. Slaughtering the remaining crewman, he overrun before being killed by the ghosts.

Gunnar’s troops had slaughtered all bar the Elven general and a couple of his bodyguards when Malus charged the flank of his unit. Challenging Malus, Gunnar took him down as he felt the power of Sigmar surge through his veins. The remaining beasts proved little match against the great swords and were promptly cut down. Gunnar launched one final assault onto the tower, Stefan ignited the units blades providing them with the edge they needed to drive the dark elves from the tower.

Viewing the battlefield from atop the tower, Gunnar’s army had devestated the invasion force leaving just a unit of crossbows to carry word back that the Empire would not give up without a fight.

With faith, steel and gunpowder, the armies of the Empire would defend their lands against all that would try to take them.

Og the Mighty’s Spring Feast

Og always likes to bring in the New Year with a fresh Giant hunt, so off he went leaving Ed in charge.

When Og returned he was amazed to find that Ed had in fact expanded his empire to twice it’s size!! Og of course took credit for this claiming that leaving Ed in charge was the right decision.

However, he decided to keep an eye on Ed and the shiny new armour he was wearing, and the Ogres that seemed very proud of their new glowy flag.

Jared seemed to be amusing himself with the captured essence of a daemony thing. His butcher’s blades now sparkled and wizzed through the air, literally making mincemeat of all the horses that Ed seemed to have captured.

Og doesn’t like all this strange behaviour. Oh well, now he can start exerting his authority over the lesser realms, and the real bashing can begin.

 

Spring Campaign Season Overview

A brief overview of the Spring Turn from the Empire’s perspective.

Spring Turn 1 – Dark Elf Border Conflict

To kick off the Ordo Fidelis’ campaign into the badlands, Lukas took an expeditionary force against a band of Dark Elves. The forces clashed near a river with neither really gaining an upper hand. The knights were blessed by Sigmar who deemed that the Dark magic of the elves should not harm his noble followers.

After a number of hard fought skirmishes, the scaly beasts of the dark elves proved too much for the infantry causing them to flee the battle. Lukas’ knights however held firm smashing through the spears and causing the crossbow wielding elves to flee from thier mighty charge.

Spring Turn 2 – Vampire Invasion

Hearing rumours that practioners of the dark arts were making a foothold to the east of Barak Varr caused Gunnar to launch an immediate attack against the forces of the night.

Gunnar’s attack would prove too hasty as with the lack of any magical support, the undead quickly gained the upperhand. Eventually it came down to Gunnar’s great swords to face off against the unstoppable charge of the black knights led by two evil fiends! There was no defence against this strike and the army returned battered and bruised to Barak Varr.

Spring Turn 3 – Vampire’s Defence

Hearing of Gunnar’s defeat at the hands of the vampires, Lukas decided to push south from Barak Varr to try and gain more territory. It quickly became apparent that the vampires had gained a taste for human blood as Lukas’ force approached the hills.

Within moments of the black knights cresting the hill, Lukas was struck down by a magical bolt leaving his army leader-less. Luckily, Sigmar had found the necromancer an affront to all that is holy and caused a horrific backlash of magical energies taking most of the necromancer’s bodyguard back to the grave. Praying to the great lord Sigmar, the remaining Imperial forces launched a counter attack crushing the horrors before them. The GreatSwords led by Wolfgang Brandt slew the vampric battle standard bearer causing them to gain favour from the Ordo Fidelis. They have been named Wolfgang’s Cleavers and gained a magical banner that keeps the edges of their blades sharp.

Siege of Mount Bloodhorn

Towards the end of Spring, Caspar read some portents of a grand alliance being assaulted by the forces of destruction. Feeling he should be involved, Caspar took a number of troops to help aid the Brettonians that had recently taken control of Mount Bloodhorn.

Taking as many warmachines as they could manage, the allies took an early toll on the daemons and warriors that assaulted the fortress. The Helstorm Rocket Battery took a grave toll on the marauders before they were forced from the wall by the swordsmen that manned the walls. With wails about the end of the world, the flagellants held for a long while against the hounds of Khorne before falling as the walls around them collapsed. The coming of the Vampires heralded the end of the defence of the fortress leading to a swift retreat by Caspar and his remaining swordsmen. Mount Bloodhorn had fallen and words had reached Caspar that the Dark Elves were once again on the move…

Through faith, steel and gunpowder, the Empire will triumph!

The siege of Mount Bloodhorn – Haldors perspective

Haldor and his evil allies were drawn to Mount Bloodhorn with tales of an abandoned Dwarf mine full of treasures. However, the forces of order had beaten them to it and had already occupied the mountain. There was only one thing to do, lay siege to weaken the enemy and then smash their way in. During the siege Haldor made many sacrifices to Khorne and this helped in two ways. First his troops were driven to a blood frenzy by the daily sacrifice of captured men, as part of the sacrifice ritual they would drink the blood of the victims from their own skulls. Secondly Haldors Daemonic allies sent many manifestations of Khorne, the ideal shock troops for an assault on a stronghold.

Word reached Haldor that his Undead and Dark Elf allies were in place at the other strategic locations on the mountain. With a final sacrifice, the assault began. Haldors troops took heavy casualties on their approach to the walls and all the undermining attempts had failed. The assault had not begun well. Haldor studied the progress with his knights and decided that his presence was needed. With a loud horn blast he scaled the walls with his knights. They were confronted with some well armed, but malnutrition swordsmen led by a very loud and annoying fellow who kept on about someone called Sigmar. He words were quickly cut short by the Swords of Haldor. Meanwhile Haldor himself was being challenged by a another man with a horrendous accent. Haldor laughed at this puny man who thought he could take on a Chaos lord of war. However, he had underestimated the mans power and his magic sword was shattered. With their leader dead the swordsmen abandoned the wall, the challenger also retreated into the neighbouring tower. This was the first section of the fortress to be claimed by the forces of destruction and signalled the turning point in the siege.

Shortly after Haldors success, the Undead and Dark Elf allies arrived having won their battles elsewhere on the mountain. This only helped hammer home the advantage that Haldor had won. The human resistance did not last long afterwards, but the petulant challenger evaded death or capture. Haldor expected that he would be back, for he fought with a cocky confidence that suggested that death would be the only way he’d admit defeat. Repairs were already beginning on the fortress walls, even before the dead were collected and burned. There would be at least one more siege of Mount Bloodhorn.

Spring Turn 3 – Ulfur gets schooled in war

The first thing that Ulfur the Oracle, chief astrologer and adviser to Haldor, did when arriving in the Badlands was to build a wizards tower. There were many reasons for this, not least that a wizard isn’t really a wizard without a tower, but also it gave Ulfur a place to scan the land and the sky in peace. This was necessary, of course, so that enemy movements could be foreseen and a sound strategy devised. However, whilst both Haldor and Magns were out campaigning Ulfur received word through E-WiN (the Evil Wizards Network, a quality service provided by Tzeentch himself that keeps you informed of the all evil news that really matters) that their Daemonic allies were under attack from some men pretending to be knights. Ulfur scanned the signs in the sky for guidance, but there were conflicting portents. The Daemons should be helped, but he could not find a sign of his victory. Undeterred, he set off to intercept the steel clad horsemen.

The ensuing battle with the Bretonnians turned many times, so much so that Ulfur’s vision of the future was more blurred than usual. After several tactical errors, that led to more than half his starting force unable to fight, Ulfur decided to retreat with what remained and rebuild for the Summer season. On the journey home Ulfur reflected on the portents and decided that they did suggest that the battle should have been fought, just that he should not have led the army. In future he would try to leave the soldiering to the soldiers. Things changed too quickly in a battle and did not give him time interpret the numerous portents that whispered to him on the winds of magic.

However, Haldor and Magnus faired better, keeping the elves firmly at arms length and protecting the captured mine.

Spring Turn 2 – Haldor dishes it out to some Ogres

With the elves pacified it was time to deal with the noisy, gross ogres that were in danger of making a mess of the western frontier. Haldor rode out with his elite house troops to confront the ogres head on.

The battle was swift and brutal. The ogres charged Haldors right flank, but failed to break through and were routed. Disaster almost struct as Haldor was momentarily sent insane after being given a glimpse of his own potential glory in the service of the dark gods. However, his composure was quickly regained and he led a charge of his most experienced knights into the ogre centre. The charge was irresistible and the rest of the enemy did not hang around for long. The cowardly ogre general fleeing from the field. The knights had performed so well that Haldor thought they must be the most deadly cavalry in all the Badlands and named them “The Swords of Haldor.” These knights would ride beside him into every battle.

Meanwhile, Magnus kept up his pressure on the elves and ensured that the mine was secured.

Spring Turn 1 – Magnus fights some elves and gets a new hat

The season started well as the raiding party sent south managed to capture a mine from those haughty elves. They were not expecting such a daring gambit and the mine was poorly protected. However, this angered the elves and mobilised them against Haldor. Thus, Magnus Headtaker was dispatched to pacify them and secure the newly won mine.

As Magnus approached the elven army, the shadow of the flying fastness darkened the land around him. A spire then appeared on the horizon. Maybe this was one of those arcane fulcrums he’d been told to look out for. Surely it must contain a relic from the flying fastness. Magnus and his army marched quickly towards the fulcrum and encountered two things, one he would enjoy, the other he would not. The elves had also made their way to the spire and he would enjoy giving them a good beating and taking a few heads. However, the fulcrum was occupied by a mad mage. Magnus hated trying to kill wizards, as they usually had some sort of charm or trinket to protect them.

The night before the battle a mysterious dark sorcerer appeared before Magnus and foretold his death in the coming battle. The only hope for Magnus was to trust this dark stranger to protect him. Magnus didn’t like this very much, he trusted only his sword hand, but decided that an extra sorcerer would be handy in dealing with the mad mage.

The battle started well, except that the lucky stone that formed part of his armour suddenly cracked and fell off before the battle lines were closed. Perhaps the dark sorcerer had been right, as this was a bad portent. As the battle was nearing the end and the elves were getting desperate, Magus saw his chance for glory and challenged their battle standard bearer to single combat. Although he’d suffered a bad wound to his leg, he’d had worse and was just about to finish off the unworthy elf (honest), when instead of connecting with a soft neck, his sword hit a stubborn tree.

Somehow he’d been transported a short distance out of the front line and into a wood. When he emerged back to the battlefield, not a single elf was left and neither was the body of the dark sorcerer, although his shabby cloak lay in heap where Magnus had stood shortly before his unnerving transportation. He picked up the cloak and a small stone on a leather strap fell to the ground. A he picked up the stone, it glinted with a myriad of colours. “Shiny must mean magical” thought Magnus, so he put the stone around his neck. With the disappearance of the dark sorcerer he couldn’t stomach dealing with the mad mage, besides he’d beaten the elves and that was what he was really here for.

On his way back, he inspected the captured mine. Work was progressing well, a relic had already been dug up and a old golden crown, set with precious jewels was also found, which Magnus decided he was more than worthy for.