The Legion of the Bronze Scarab rides

The tomb king was irate. Despite his clear instructions to animate his beloved warsphinx Hatshepshut first, the mortuary cultists had failed to do so. No, instead they had worked on the heirotitan Imhotep and seemed bewildered as he raged at them for their failings.

He was going to have to degrade himself and use a simple chariot instead to carry him across the battlefield. This was unacceptable. Lahmizzash I made a mental note to have at least two of the liche priests ritually sacrificed and their withered organs stored in canoptic jars buried at the site of their landing in Bretonnia.

His mood soured further as he recalled the news from scouts that a high elf force had been spotted approaching his army position near the coast. Of course, the scryers had told him the asur were here, along with several other armies including those damned vampires. But still, he had hoped to gain a bit of ground before being challenged.

In the distance, Fozzrik's Flying Fortress slowly rotated in the sky, pulsing with aetheric lights. Lahmizzash didn't really care about the fortress, although his heirophant was desperate to get hold of the secrets inside. No, his only purpose was to stop the foul vampiric kind from gaining access. Settra himself and given him this order.

No puny high elf was going to stop him...

Here's a match report from game 1 of the campaign, a 1,200pt pitched battle between the tomb kings and high elves. No magic items for me! Keeping it simple for the first game, here's the lists:

Tomb Kings

TK: Tomb King: Chariot, HW, Shield
LP: Liche Priest: Lvl 4, Heirophant, Nehekhara

Arch: 20 Skeleton Archers: Full command
WAR: 23 Skeleton Warriors: Full command, shields
HOR: 5 Skeleton Horsemen: Musician
HOR: 5 Skeleton Horsemen: Musician
C: 3 Chariots: Full command

H: Heirotitan

High Elves

AM: Archmage: Lvl 3, High

A1: 10 Archers: Champion
A2: 11 Archers: Champion
S1: 10 Spearmen: Champion, Musician

WLo: 15 White Lions: Full command
S2: 10 Swordmasters: Full command

GE: Great Eagle
BT1: Bolt Thrower
BT2: Bolt Thrower
BT3: Bolt Thrower

For spells, my liche priest got desert wind, protection, cursed blades and desiccation.
The high elves got soul quench, tempest and hand of glory

Deployment

I won the roll off and chose to deploy second. I figured my chariots were about the only thing I had against the White Lions so wanted them as close as possible. The brave heirotitan started behind a building with 3 bolt throwers staring him down.

Both skeleton horsemen units vanguarded forward as I attempted to threaten bolt throwers or divert those nasty White Lions.

I won the roll off, and the tomb kings surged forward!

Tomb King Turn 1

Both horsemen units moved up further and the rest of my army shuffled forwards slowly.

In the magic phase I got 5 dice, which was to become a theme. Fortunately the Heirotitan helped me out with some extra dice so I had 8 to cast with. Andy wisely dispelled desert wind, but I did get a boosted protection of giving my units a 5+ ward save.

In the shooting phase, my unit of archers managed to bring down 2 swordmasters and the chariots excelled themselves by killing 3 archers, panicking the archmage's unit! Fortunately for Andy, he rolled 4" so they stayed on the board...

High Elves Turn 1

It was the turn of the high elves to react, and the eagle wasted no time in flapping in front of my chariots in an attempt to redirect their charge. Fortunately, the archers rallied and turned back to face the tomb king lines.

In the centre, both the spearmen and swordmasters marched forwards.

Magic didn't amount to much as the archmage was out of range of most units.

With a withering rain of arrows and bolts on my right flank, my skeleton horsemen were cut to pieces. 3 of my archers were also slain by bolt throwers.

Tomb King Turn 2

Crunch time! My horseman charged the eagle, who chose to flee but could barely get off the ground before he was speared by the rampaging cavalry. The White Lions remained unbowed. My chariots also declared a charge, figuring impact hits might be the way to shift the elite elven infanty. Lahmizzash scoffed, as his wheeled unit smashed into the White Lions with an 11" charge roll!

In magic, I healed up my archer unit with desert wind and my heirotitan cast Burning Gaze which killed one of the right-most bolt thrower crew.

The skeleton archers dropped another 3 swordmasters with some fine shooting. Well done skellies!

Combat was pretty brutal on both sides. Impact hits killed 8 White Lions and up stepped Lahmizzash with a challenge to the elven champion. The lions were going first and destroyed two entire chariots with swings of their axes, with the champion also inflicting a wound on my tomb king. In reply the tomb king cut down the champion with ease and his unit also inflicted a couple more wounds. It was enough to break the elves and they were trampled and run down by the marauding chariots, who overran into the bolt thrower. The shock at the White Lions' defeat was enough to send the left-most bolt thrower crew running.

High Elves Turn 2

Ouch. The asur needed to come back strong after that devastating chariot charge. The remaining swordmasters charged into the skeleton archers, eyeing up my heirophant. The archmage and his unit shuffled past the chariots and took aim at my horsemen. On the right, the archers moved down the hill to stare down my skeleton warriors. The bolt thrower crew ran off the board!!

Magic saw a soul quench devastate the skeleton horsemen, leaving one alive. Shooting from the remaining bolt thrower failed to wound the heirotitan and 3 skeleton warriors were shot down in a hail of arrows.

In combat, the swordmasters killed 5 skeleton archers, but lost two of their own. I crumbled a little. The chariots ran over the bolt thrower crew, and reformed to face the flank of the archmage...

Tomb Kings Turn 3

In went Lahmizzash and his remaining charioteer colleague. Both the heirotitan and the warriors attempted long charges, but both failed.

Magic again saw me regrow a few archers in the middle, and give them a ward save. The heirotitan failed to cast Burning Gaze on the right-hand bolt thrower.

No shooting - we is in combat!

The chariots smashed 7 archers to the ground and Lahmizzash made short work of the archmage with 3 wounds. The archers broke, but managed to get away by 1"!

My archer unit finally overwhelmed the swordmasters, who fled only to be caught and slaughtered by a rampaging skellie unit. An 11" pursue!!!

High Elves Turn 3

Things were looking bleak for the asur, but there were points to be won on my right flank. The spearmen lowered their hafted weapons and charged into the skeleton warriors, intent on revenge.

In the centre, the remaining archers rallied, and turned to face the rampaging chariots.

No magic, and shooting failed to cause any wounds to the heirotitan - the poor bolt thrower's remaining crewmember being too terrified to aim straight.

In combat, the high elf spearmen slew 4 warriors, losing only 1 in return. My skellies crumbled a little.

Tomb King Turn 4

Once more, Lahmizzash willed his skeletal steeds to charge the remaining archers, crushing them beneath his wheels and briefly leaving the battlefield.

The heirotitan attempted a charge on the distant archers, but rolled a double 1! My archers turned in the centre to threaten their elven counterparts.

Magic - I healed a wound on the heirotitan but did little else.

Shooting saw a few archers cut down.

My warriors lost another 3 men, and again only killed a single spearmen in return, crumbling a little more.

High Elves Turn 4

Time for a final act of heroism from the asur? Perhaps not.

The remaining archers moved forward a little, hoping their arrows and the bolt thrower might remove the pesky heirotitan at last.

This time the bolt thrower hit with its single shot, wounded.... and rolled 1 to wound. Not to be as the remaining arrows pattered off the statue.

In the combat, the spearmen's resolve finally broke and they fled. My warriors, taking lessons from the skellie archers, then pursued 11" and slammed into his remaining archer unit... Breathtaking speed.

We called it there, with just a handful of asur left alive on the table

Lahmizzash sneered at his grovelling liche priest. "Let that be a lesson to you minion, do not forsake my orders again. Now, go an polish my chariot."

A glorious victory for the Legion of the Bronze Scarab, that Flying Fortress was as much as his already.

The game hinged on that chariot charge. Without impact hits, I'm not killing the White Lions really and that decided the game. Fortune favoured my khemri! Leadership tests weren't great for my opponent, including the archmage unit running away turn 1 and nearly off the board. My pursuit rolls were also incredible all game. Something in the (Bretonnian) water?

My forces managed to capture 2 relics with their victory, with the high elves getting 1. Relics are the key to getting into the fortress, you see.

I also earned 5 empire points, so will set about claiming new territories or building stuff once the first campaign 'turn' is finished. Couple more games to go yet, but a good start so far. Finally, my chariot unit earned the 'armour piercing' upgrade after their fine performance. Lahmizzash argues it was all him, but no one is listening.

In other games played on Monday night, the orcs & goblins fought a very close draw with the wood elves. Highlights of that game were an orc giant headbutting a treeman repeatedly and the goblins falling foul of tricksy steadfast elves!

The Empire and the vampires also faced off, with the sneaky humans emerging winners after injuring the vampire lord. Will post an update once the campaign turn proper is finished - thanks for reading!!

Betrayal in Bretonnia - the campaign begins!

 Hi folks - so after 6 months of planning (and mostly map painting) the Warhammer Fantasy Battle campaign is finally getting under way on Monday (30th). Eight of us will be battling to win the right to unlock the secrets of Fozzrik's Flying Fortress over 12 campaign 'turns'.

I've included a link to the rules pack I made for the players - we're all going through the preliminary stages for the first 'turn' proper, including moving our armies, issues challenges and experiencing a random event.

It's the 'spring' season in the campaign, which means difficult terrain tests are slightly more tricky and those using Lore of Life magic get a bonus.

It's my intention to use this blog to chart progress of the campaign, not least my own Legion of the Golden Scarab tomb king force, as we battle our way to uncover the relics needed to unlock the gates of the fortress and seize it's magical contents for ourselves. Expect treachery, mediocre artillery guess ranging and hopefully a few stories along the way.

The first battles will be fought on Monday night - keep your eyes peeled for updates as we go!

Rules Pack!

Betrayal in Bretonnia...

 

They were all gone. Every single one.

The streaming banners and pennants were still there, fluttering in the light breeze above the ramparts. The horses were there – you could hear the occasional whinny or the stamp of a hoof.

But the people had just… gone. It was unbelievable.

He partly unsheathed his blade and strode through the eastern gates. The wide boulevard should have been lined with market sellers and hawkers, and bustling with peasant workers heading to the fields outside the city walls.

The stalls were still there, produce left abandoned and spoiling on the wooden crates or stacked neatly alongside.

He shuddered. The rumours were true – something horrendous had befallen Bretonnia. But what?

It was as if everyone had just vanished.

He moved further into Parravon, hoping to see some kind of sign of what had befallen the city. There were no bodies, no evidence of any damage to the buildings. Nothing even out of place.

As he entered one of the squares, he dismounted and tied up his destrier.

Steps led up to a guard post on one side and he climbed, stiff from his time in the saddle, a growing sense of dread inside him.

At the top of the wall, he stared out across the peasant fields, the neatly tilled land stretching out before him, abandoned. It didn’t make any sense.

How could all the people just vanish?

And then he saw it.

Slowly revolving in the sky, looming over the distant coastline with a myriad of coloured ashen clouds swirling below it.

An entire… castle. In the sky.

He looked away, unable to believe what his eyes told him. But the edifice was still there, pulsing with ethereal power and malevolence.

He felt sure it was this – thing – that had something to do with the disappeared people. This castle.

There had been legends of a flying fortress, all over the Old World, but they were just simple tales told to entertain children. Weren’t they?

His thoughts shifted. This news had to be spread. Who knows, perhaps there was treasure to be found inside that fortress, if you could find a way inside.

And his lord would most definitely want a part of it. After all, it wasn’t every day that Fozzrik’s Flying Fortress appeared above the land. Before long, other armies and lord would hear of the potential spoils and there would be Betrayal in Bretonnia, that was certain…