The slayer's due

 

While the north of the Isthmus have been engulfed in relentless war between skaven, undead and empire, the dwarves have made expanded their initial holdings into quite an empire. Eager for battle, the slayers launched an invasion into clan Mors territory, attacking the ratmen in the Obsidian Column

Both sides deployed for a pitched battle around one of the mystical temples of the slann

The dwarves got first turn, and after rushing forwards with their look Snorri trolls special rule, they began to march under heavy skaven fire

First blood however was down to the local fauna, as a vicious lashworm sprung from the temple to devour a poor clanrat

In the skaven turn, a flamethrower template landed squarely on top of a dwarf unit ravaged by ratling fire, burning a giantslayer and several of his mates to a crisp

On the other side of the battlefield meanwhile, Long Drong and his pirates squared off with a block of clanrats, trading pistol fire before the charge 

The ratmen kept finding unpleasant surprises in the undergrowth, a family of madcap mushrooms popping up in their deployment zone

At last both sides engaged in combat, the skaven charging first and doing some damage, only to see the slayers stand their ground eager to see their collective deathwish fulfilled

With typical skaven unreliability, a warlock engineer blew his hand off when a warpstone pistol exploded

And then things started to downslide for the ratmen, with a regiment of clanrats routing

And a giantslayer tanking all hits from the enemy battle standard bearer

In the center the brotherhood of Grimnir dealt quickly with the slaves and then smashed into the rat ogres, making easy work of the giant monsters thanks to their slayer rules

The skaven general was also slain by a death seeker 

Followed quickly by the ratling gun

The jungle joined in the fun too, frying the brains of five clanrats with a cloud of hallucinogen spores

Despite losing most of their comrades three slayers stood stubbornly against a horde of ratmen, who were struck again by the spores 

And began to rout from the field!

The last skaven grasp was yet another failure, the night runner emerging from their tunnel only to be shot down and broken by Makaisson's repeater handgun

And so the first battle for the Obsidian Column ended, in a veritable skaven massacre that saw the territory and its riches pass into slayer hands, who despite not achieving their doom could soothe their shame with veritable mountains of gold, becoming the richest faction of the campaign

The Ziggurat of Dawn

After their last defeat against the empire on the Stellar Pyramids, the skaven turn their attention to the undead, marching through the Head Monoliths of the Gods and attacking the Ziggurat of Dawn

Both forces deploy in battle line ready for a head on fight

A massive horde of undead shambles forwards through the jungle

Facing the teeming ranks of clan Mors

Seizing the first turn, the undead player routs a unit of clanrats with his vampire on winged nightmare

His wolves also smash into the rat ogres, only to be cut down

Things don't look up during the skaven turn, since the warp lightning cannon blows itself up

The clanrats with spears save the situation however, annihilating a unit of skeletons

And then smashing into the big undead blob

With their flank gone the ratmen form to hold the black knights at bay, as the necrarc vampire looms ominously on their flank

The zombies are cut down by the night runners, who appear under them after digging their way into the battlefield

Sadly the skaven general has seen enough, and routs from the field after being charged by a banshee

The last combat sees the skaven hold firm against the vampire

And wipe out a unit of skeletons plus a necromancer

The battle ends thus in a draw, a result that while not allowing the skaven to conquer land sees them retreat in good order to the Head Monoliths of the Gods

Ambush on the Pyramid of the Sun

 

"It has been many many months since we departed our dear Altdorf and embarked for Lustria in search of fame and fortune. We landed on this strange land without much trouble, and after trekking inland through the jungle we conquered an immense lizardmen city full of riches. Our success however hasn't been unnoticed, and many foes gather around the Altdorf expedition to take our treasure for themselves: to the north the vile undead roam the land, while beneath us the malign ratmen scurry through the trees. There are even rumours of an army of crazed dwarves further down south, so it appears that this fight has only just begun..."

Journal of Kaspar van Gelt, Feldmarshall of the Altdorf Expedion

Eager to bring battle to the vile skaven I fought during my time in Tilea, I ordered the construction of a road through the jungle to reach their nests in the Pyramid of the Serpent, but while my men were thus occupied the spies discovered that the ratmen had already begun their expansion, marching to the stellar pyramids south of Hexoatl. I couldn't leave this menace unattended, so I led the army southwards to attack the vile mutants before they had time to dug in.

We made a grand show of our advance, burning the rodent nests we found on the way and pushing their scattered outposts before us. I knew that skaven can be an impulsive race at times, and with this provocation I hoped to bring them out of their hovels and into open battle.

it was to be so, for the rats marched forwards to meet us in battle, only to fall in a well planed ambush were we caught them on the road completely by surprise

Proud flew the flags of Altdorf that day, and when I gave the order the guns thundered and the handguns barked, starting the battle with a glorious volley

The ratmen were still positioning themselves when one of our cannonballs blew up a weird looking machine at the heart of their army

The destruction started a massive rout that saw half of the craven ratmen flee the field, running for their lives as the cowards I knew they were

On the other side of the road our mortar scored a perfect hit in the center of a block of spears, sending dozens of rats fleeing and routing the rest

The remaining skaven then charged in desperation towards our wall of fire

But the first loss we suffered was from a carnivorous plant, that ate whole the crew of the cannon who had scored the first lucky hit of the battle

Undaunted I ordered the advance of my flanking force, spearheaded by the steam tank Viktoria, a marvel of engineering that destroyed some massive mutants with its fearsome volley gun

Sigmar be praised, the jungle was equally lethal for our foes, and one of their warlock fell choking on some spores next to a clump of rocks

With one half of their army wiped out by our guns, the infantry charged valiantly into the ratmen

Routing them with ease and sealing their defeat as the sun began to set on the battlefield

With the skaven in disarray the lizardmen temples were ours, and no time was lost in looting their stony halls of gold and jewels. Rich and victorious, I led the host back north, where our foes gather with blackness in their hearts