The battle of Arnalos

 

The Border Princes campaign marches on and it's the slayer's turn to shine, who make a bold march north conquering some land and attacking the Empire on the village of Arnalos

With both sides deployed for a meeting engagement it's the crazed dwarfs who seize the initiative and charge forwards to glory or death

The imperials answer with the usual barrage of shell and shot, but among the chaos disaster strikes when the hellblaster gun blows up during its first salvo

Don't fear though, as a cannon and the steam tank wipe out the three deathseekers trying to sneak by

In the center meanwhile two big regiments of dwarves march stoically under a storm of lead

While on the right the emperor charges Long Drong's slayers

With the enemy within charge range, the imperials attack, knights and spearmen taking care of one unit while the steam tank smashes into the rest

Gotrek and Felix come to the rescue, but their usually lethal weapons prove lacking against the ironclad behemoth, chipping away only a few wounds

With all his comrades slaughtered, the slayer general refuses stubbornly to die

But ultimately it's the power of science and industry who will prevail today, and the slayers die in droves to canister and arquebus shot

Even the ingenious goblin hewer falls victim to the imperial artillery, blown up by a precise cannonball

The only remarkable loss for the Empire is the griffon, killed by the pistols of the slayer pirates

By the fourth turn only a handful of slayers remain

But they fall one by one

Leaving Arnalos firmly in the hands of the Empire

Prince Asarnil

 

And here's the end the final model of the high elf army, prince Asarnil. Exiled by the phoenix king for disobeying his orders he left Ulthuan behind with his dragon Deathfang and embarked on a life of adventure as a sellsword in the land of Tilea. Now for hire all over the Old World and beyond, the prince and his followers gather fame and riches, dreaming of one day returning to his beloved Caledor.

The dragon was painted first, a quick job of watered down greens followed by highlighted bone and small details like the mouth and the eyes. The prince came next, done in purple and gold to contrast with the green tones of his mount and give him a flashy look befitting a prince of Ulthuan

Without all the lead bits of Imrik this model was far lighter, so no support work was necessary in the base. He's just the regular 5th ed dragon with an exiled elf on top after all!

Imrik prince of Caledor

No elf army is complete without some big dragon, and who better to lead the caledorians than their prince Imrik. With little time remaining before the first game I speed-painted him with a watered down coat of blue followed by metals, bone and all the gems.

The model had actually broken by the ankles at the time of painting, so to prevent further breakdowns I added a waystone bit on the base that sustains the lead weight of the head, arms and the prince

Bloodbath on the Dragonback

 

Starting 2025 with a Border Princes campaign, where humans, elves and dwarfs will fight for control of these fractured and anarchic princedoms south of the Empire

In the first day only the imperial and elf players showed up, the elves expanding to the west with Karl Franz on hot pursuit. Both armies then met in a mountainous valley of the dragonback range to fight the first battle of the campaign

The scenario rolled was flank attack; and the army of Karl Franz deployed on a long gunline detaching a small force of cavalry to assault the enemy by the left

The imperials got the first turn and let rip with cannon, mortar and volley gun, the storm of lead causing great damage among the packed elf ranks

Instead of advancing the caledorians kept back, redeploying a bit to create some gaps between units

Affronted by the elven cowardice the emperor ordered the advance, flying atop some ruins atop his griffon Deathclaw while blocks of halberdiers and spearmen moved into the fray

The steam tank Viktoria proved once again to be the empire's MVP, destroying one unit per turn with its lethal volley gun

From the backline the imperial guns kept firing during the whole game, blowing up elves by the dozen

Under such sustained barrage the asur had little option but to advance

While on the other side of the battlefield their general was blown away by the steam tank

But it wasn't all wine and roses on the imperial side as the volley gun jammed on its first shot, proving once more that freshly painted troops are always cursed

Franz then took matters on his own hands, annihilating first a regiment of spearmen and then smashing into the dragon princes

The elf prince choose that moment to come out from hiding, his dragon breathing fire upon a regiment of Altdorf spearmen

Surprisingly Franz didn't manage to kill a single knight on his turn, and while he didn't receive any wounds he and his griffon lost the combat and ran away

Promptly the emperor rallied, and in the following turn all guns concentrated fire on the dragon until the beast fell to the ground riddled with shot and cannonballs

With the loss of their main ace it was all over for the elves, who beat a hasty retreat north to the other side of the Black Gulf

Hellblaster cannon

The first miniature of the year is a hellbaster volley gun from the rich city of Altdorf. The model is a 3d print from Highlands Miniatures painted following my usual recipe, I've found that the agrax earthshade wash works better over browns than vallejo sepia so I'll be using it from now on.