Path to Glory Campaign - Short Resume

Today I finished the Path to Glory campaign I initiated at my FLGS. Here's a short narrative story about my champion's journey:

Prologue

Vlad the Poker was a merciless and cunning killer before getting the blood kiss of an unknown vampire. His past is shrouded in mistery, yet somehow he managed to get elevated to a lord's title. One day came across the carcass of a dragon, and using his necromantic knowledge, resurrected it to serve him as a mount and as a tool of war.

Then he set out to defeat the local warring warlords who were potential threats of him becoming a powerful ruler of the lands. To reach this pinnacle, first he had to recruit able bodies. He found the barrow of an ancient renowned warrior, burried with his horse and his honor guard. He quickly raised them and bound their bodies forever in his service.

Chapter I.

Soon Vlad met his first contender - Virulax, a greater demon of the always merry Rain Father. Vlad didn't realize that this encounter with him wouldn't be his last. Virulax, blessed by Nurgle, overwhelmed Vlad, who was overconfident of his newly found abilities. He had no choice - declare defeat and retreat. Live - or in his case - remain dead for another day.

Chapter II.

Vlad stopped for a while, to plan his next move. He hoped to find creatures of untold power, that would aid him in his conquest. He captured a follower of Tzeentch, from a local herd of beasts led by Bââââh the Humbugger, who was marauding the local lands. He prepared the Enlightened Tzaangor for a sacrifice, so his blood would draw in the bloodthirsty Vargheists from the deepest, darkest and most terrifying chasms. The herd reacted and charged Vlad and his followers, but they were massacred and too late - the sacrifice was done and the Vergheists were summoned.

Chapter III.

Vlad now with his forces bolstered, ventured out again. During his expedition, he came across of an ambitious, but feeble Skaven Grey Seer named Skitty. He sought to try out his new test subjects so he challenged Vlad for a fight. Cowards as they were, the Skaven grouped together and waited for the enemy. Two rivals faced each other, but Vlad was cunning too. He sent his vanguard to circle around the mutated rats, while himself charged the main line. Thanks to his clever ambush and the Skaven's negligence, the latter was utterly defeated.

Chapter IV.

Now Vlad, almost unopposed, sought out more knowledge in a vault of dark secrets. Here he found Nighthaunts driven to insanity by their past deeds and an eternity of torment. He realized he couldn't get to his goal with reason. These spirits only understood one thing - murder. The Red Duke, a past executioner, led these Nighthaunts. He was so driven to insanity, he instantly fell to Vlad's trap. While his vanguard charged the left flank of the enemy, they left an opening for Vlad, who went straight for the prize. After a fierce battle with Spirit Hosts, he got to the Red Duke, and released him from its suffering. One could call he showed mercy. He hoped to find knowledge, but he only found the vault in ruins. On his way out, he found a wittered prisoner of the Nighthaunts. Vlad spared his life in exchange for his servitude. He turned out to be a vile necromancer in search for dark power, captured by the tormented spirits.

Chapter V.

The vampire lord continued to seek out new foes, eliminating competition and raising their fallen soldiers as new recruits. Unknown to him, a foe already found him. The Doom Guy, a powerful and superb warrior of Khorne, set a trap for Vlad. Unlike the rest of the Bloodthirsters, this one choose to wait, instead of charge forward. He watched Vlad's movement, and waited until his army got separated, then he striked. Demons of Khorne, conjured by blood and war poured out and surrounded Vlad and his Vanguard. Vlad, with no choice left, sent a part of his units to keep the demons at bay, while he prepared to flee. Even though a Skull Cannon scored a direct hit on him, he was still able to escape and kill in the rest of the warband to finish his enemy off.

Final Chapter

The final challange came. The Trial of the Champions. Four warbands, led into battle by ambitious leaders, only one to come out as victorious. Vlad choose a strategic location near a Realmgate, that could be easily defended if needed. He saw in the promoximity lights shooting down the sky, and soon realized a smaller stormhost was set up defensively in a nearby fort. He wasn't about to allow them to get a foothold in the area he desperately wanted to defend. He sent his vanguard out, him close nearby, flying around a tower were a ballista was set up. But the treacherous Skaven gave the Stormcast valuable information about Vlad's movements and the Ballista zeroed him in. They showed no mercy and shot him down from the sky. Vlad would never see his plans realized. His army retreated, only to fade into obscurity.
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The campaign was really fun, I got to play against multiple opponents with different armies and varying style. I got to see a small force of skirmish turn into a smaller army. Endre's victory in the final battleplan was no suprise - not only he had a resilient army, but he also chose to weather out the storm! Well deserved victory nonetheless.

I am gratefull to everyone who participated in this campaign, hope you enjoyed it!

Narrative Battleplan - The Doomed March - Blood Moon Rising - Legions of Nagash vs Clan Skryre

This is the first battle for our narrative campaign, set in the events of the Malign Portents.

Type: Narrative Battleplan
Mission: Blood Moon Rising
Malign Portents: The Balemoon

We both selected our armies, and we decided that the Legions of Nagash will be the ambushers and Clan Skryre will be the Marauder.

Ambusher's Army: Legions of Nagash

Allegiance: Grand Host of Nagash

General: Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament
Leaders:

• 2x Necromancer
• 2x Wight King with Baleful Tomb Blade
• Cairn Wraith (Artefact: Grave-Sand Timeglass)
• Knight of Shrouds

Units:

• 20x Skeleton Warriors with Ancient Spears
• 20x Skeleton Warriors with Ancient Swords
• 10x Grave Guard with Great Wight Blades
• 10x Black Knights
• 3x Spirit Hosts
• 2x Morghast Archai with Spirit Halberds

Marauder's Army: Skaven

Allegiance: Clan Skryre

General: Arch Warlock (Artefact: Esoteric Warp Resonator; Command Trait: Masterful Scavenger)
Leaders:

• Skaven Warlord with Warpforged Blade
• 2x Warlock Engineer

Units: 

• 40x Stormvermin with Halberds
• 40x Clanrats
• 3x Stormfiends
• 4x Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team

Behemots:

• Hell Pit Abomination

Deployment:

I had to separate my army into two, so I chose to deploy Arkhan, the Morghast Archai and the Nighthaunts on the left side of the table.

Next the Skaven deployed their army on to the designated area in the middle.

Finally, I deployed the rest of the army on the right side of the table.

Round 1:

We each generated Prophecy Points according the book: +3 for playing in Shyish, +3 for each Harbinger, +1 for each Wizard and Priest. The Skaven Warlock and the Engineers try to cast some spells, however Arkhan is an excellent spell unbinder with his +2 to his rolls. Cristi charged into my lines with the Hell Pit Abomination and his Clan Rats, however he didn't manage to kill Arkhan as he hoped. The Morghast Archai made sure that his Abomination wouldn't survive another turn. Some Clanrats died and some fled from the might of the Morghast Archai. Arkhan also had a blast with his Curse of the Years spell, dishing out a whooping of 10 mortal wounds. The Abomination died and also caused some mortal wounds, leaving Arkhan with 1 wound left! I cleaned up the side, recovered some wounds for Arkhan and started to aggressively advance my force towards the middle.

Round 2:

The Skaven won the roll-off for the next round and started to reinforce the left side where the Clanrats and the Abomination failed. We generated PPs this round too. The Warlock Charges in along with the Engineers, Warlord and the might unit of 40 Stormvermin. They blasted through the Spirit Hosts, only to be returned by Arkhan in my turn.

At this time the action here was really intense which also distracted my from moving my units on the other side of the table. I managed to kill the Arch Warlock, and also to inflict some damage on the Leaders and on the Stormvermin. However, I had my share of casualties, the Knight of Shrouds has fallen and I lost one Morghast Archai. On the other side I managed to clear out the Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team with my Black Knights.

Round 3:

At this time I knew Arkhan was doomed and I started to question my strategic plan (if there was any).

The Skaven won the roll-off yet again. Cristi saw an opportunity and started to charge into my now weakened left flank. He managed to kill Arkhan with the Stormvermin and also killed the rest of my army on this side of the table. My Deathrattle force on the other hand was very slow and couldn't get here in time.

Round 4 and Round 5:

Well past round 4 this was really over, the Skaven army managed to escape (this time) from the grasps of the undead horde. Skaven managed to score a minor victory!

Malign Portents - Age of Sigmar Narrative Campaign

I always wanted to try Age of Sigmar in a narrative play, so we decided to give it a try. Since I purchased the Malign Portents book, I had the tools to make one. I convinced my friend to play a series of games which are connected and form up a bigger campaign. I will update the story as we progress through the games and post separate entries for each battle report.

The March of the Skaven

Clan Skryre was always a pack of curious rats and inventing mad scientists. Word got to them that Nagash was up to something in Shyish and they just had to find it out for themselves. They gathered a force and started marching through the blasted and barren landscape. What they didn't know is that Arkhan was already waiting for them...

The Skaven reacted quickly and sent some of the Clan Rats and a Hell Pit Abomination to weaken the lines of Arkhan the Black. However, Arkhan was surrounded by his loyal bodyguards, the Morghasts, who then swept through the rats with their halberds like it was grass. The cunning Warlock saw an opportunity to kill Arkhan, but he died before he could see his devious plan go through. Arkhan now overwhelmed by the Stormvermin, was killed - or was he? The small force of undeads and nighthaunts quickly fell to the force of lesser yet more numerous rats. Clan Skryre managed to cut through the lines of Arkhan and quickly evade a cold and planned death by Nagash. But this is just a mere delay for Nagash. Time is not of importance to him. Eventually the slow but tireless army of death will catch up with the rats.

Deathrattle vs Skaven Skryre - Age of Sigmar Battle Report

Time for the first battle report!

I played a pitched battle against my good old friend Cristi (check out his battle report over here).

The Lists:

Grand Alliance Death, Death Allegiance (1000 pt):
Leaders

• Arkhan The Black, Mortarch of Sacrament
• 2 x Necromancer
• Cairn Wraith

Units

• 3-man Spirit Hosts
• 5-man Black Knights
• 10-man Skeleton Warriors with Crypt Shields and Spears
• 10-man Skeleton Warriors with Crypt Shields and Swords

Grand Alliance Chaos, Clan Skryre Allegiance (1000 pt):
Leaders

• Arch Warlock
• Warlock Engineer

Units

• Poisoned Wind Mortar Weapon Team
• 3 x Ratling Gun Weapon Team
• 4 x Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team
• War Machines
• Warp Lightning Cannon

Pitched Battle: Knife to the Heart

The Deployment:

After setting up the objectives and rolling for sides, we started to deploy our forces pretty much in the back, however I went in bold and deployed the majority of my units to the front. Cristi deployed his units in the corner, with the exception of Arch Warlock, Warlock Engineer and the Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team. We chose to roll who should begin instead of going for the first who finished deploying.

Round 1:

Skaven was to go first and quickly dispatched my Black Knights and Spirit Hosts. The Cairn Wraith barely survived with 2 wounds.

On my turn I cast Curse of Ages on the Warlock Engineer and successfully got rid of him. I advanced the left flank of my skeletons and charged with Arkhan the Black and with the Cairn Wraith the Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team.

Round 2:

I won the roll, which gave me some hope to win. Unfortunately I didn't get to successfully cast Curse of Ages. In the combat phase Arkhan killed the rest of the Warpfire Thrower Weapon Team. 

On Skaven's turn the Arch Warlock and Warp Lightning Cannon inflicted 7 wounds on Arkhan, which made him really vulnerable.

Round 3:

I won the roll again, and successfully aged the Arch Warlock with continuously rolling 1 dice! Unfortunately since Arkhan was weakened I couldn't move him out of harms way and the Skaven's managed to shoot Arkhan off the table. The Wraith also dies to shooting. By this time my left flank was dead, only the Necromancer managed to stay alive. This is the point that I regretted holding my right flank in the back.

Round 4:

Necromancer casts Arcane Bolt and kills one of the Ratling Gun Weapon Team. I knew this was not going well for me so I charged with the Necromancer, then he died heroically! We chose to end the game at this point as no way my right flank was going to survive the trip to the other side of the table, nor Cristi's units were able to reach my units in 2 turns. 

Results:

Skaven victory. For now.

Conclusions:

Playing aggressively with Deathrattle is a must. Caution does not pay off. Also, I need more Skeleton Warriors so the unit doesn't get wiped out so easily.