Firestorm II Campaign

Greetings!

I promised this summer would bring new campaigns and lots of batreps and painting, and this is the post that starts things off by announcing....

Firestorm II

Second War for the Flamescar Plateau

This post will serve as a landing page for this campaign's overall progress, and as such will be constantly updated as the war rages on. Last time there were four warlords competing for the possession of the Flamescar Plateau, one from each Grand Alliance, but this time there are three armies... all of which hail from the same Grand Alliance.

The Free City Hammerhal sends forth a contingent of aelves drawn from the city's massive population, while the shadowy city-port of Anvilgard provisions a competing force to race its sister city of Hammerhal for the control of the Flamescar region. Above the armsrace of the two Cities of Order, a more mysterious power gathers... The Seraphon are bound for the plateau as well, led by the ancent Oldblood Kraq-Nar in search of a disturbance their worldship detected on its voyage through the void in between the Realms.

While waiting for more battlereports and tidings of war, be sure to check out this campaign's Firestorm Faction Focus!

This campaign is still in progress and will receive fairly regular updates.

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The war begins as the three competing armies converge upon the plateau from three points of the compass: Hammerhal's aelven legions march upon the Coast of Ill Omen from the north-east, Kraq-Nar's Seraphon scouting force appears on the vast expanse of the Magebane Dungeons in the south-east and the infamous Anvilgard fleet sails in along the coast of the Searing Sea.

Each of the factions is prepared to battle the others for the dominance of the region, to secure enough territory and powerful artefacts to flush the others out. Being an ancient site of former Order activity, the Flamescar Plateau already holds an altar of each of the competitors: a Hammerhalian temple on the slopes of the Wyrdflame Crest mountains, an arcane beacon of the Seraphon at Titanworks as well as an old Anvilgardian outpost by the Lifesprings.

Flamescar Plateau's unique natural fenomenon, a rogue Realmgate hovering above the lands, was idly sailing through the flame-stricken skies in the Infinity Gears region as the war broke out.

Glory Point progress:
Hammerhal   0❂/30❂
Anvilgard       0❂/30❂
Seraphon      0❂/30❂

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Marching his aelven legions south, Lord Morduviel Dawnspur made it up to The Chains before meeting any form of resistance. Oldblood Kraq-Nar and a council of Skink priests were out scouting the landscape when they came across the aelves, with the bulk of the Seraphon army still mustering its power further south. Despite being heavily outnumbered by Lord Morduviel's army, Kraq-Nar and his repitilian vanguard mounted a fierce defense in order to slow down the aelven advance. In the Battle of the Chains the forces of Hammerhal claimed ground aggressively, taking over so many of the region's ancient fortifications that Kraq-Nar had to call off his troops and cut his losses. Despite suffering a defeat in the hands of the aelves, the Seraphon had managed to secure hoards of supplies from the area, which they would later use to expand their domain at the Magebane Dungeons.

With The Chains now safely under his control, Lord Morduviel ordered a handful of the forts to be garrisoned before moving on with the rest of his army; they would not lose the region as swiftly as they had gained it.

After the battle the Realmgate shifted to the Valley of Fallen Gods.

Glory Point progress:
Hammerhal   3❂/30❂
Anvilgard       0❂/30❂
Seraphon      0❂/30❂

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With their recent victory fresh in their minds, the legions of Hammerhal pressed south-east towards the coast of the Searing Sea, the rumoured landing site of the Anvilgard forces. Having passed the mountain range, Lord Morduviel Dawnspur led his army through the devastated landscape of the Tears of Fate, where he was suddenly beset by a vile ambush! Without warning, a mounted force of Anvilgardians descended upon the marching Hammerhal column amidst the blasted ruins of an old settlement, laying waste to Lord Morduviel's ranks in a clash that came to be known as the Battle of the Tears of Fate. The Hammerhal forces fought long and hard, but eventually all but Lord Morduviel himself were mercilessly slain in Dreadlord Rinos Wildbringer's masterfully coordinated trap. His forces utterly crushed, Morduviel Dawnspur now flees back north to join the armies of his family and supporters.

After the battle the Realmgate shifted to the Tears of Fate.

Glory Point progress:
Hammerhal   3❂/30❂
Anvilgard       1❂/30❂
Seraphon      0❂/30❂

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The Hammerhal momentum had been stalled for now, allowing the forces of Anvilgard to press deeper into the mainland. Rinos Wildbringer led his armies west, into the Sporehollows, in search of a cluster of meteors that their scouts had spotted landing there in the dead of night. The well-armed expedition ran into a cohort of Seraphon, however, that was hunting the fallen meteors in the southern mountains as well. The fierce Battle for Sporehollows ensued, with the Anvilgardians pressing their aggressive assault to gain an early upper hand. Eventually the time-warping capabilities of the Seraphon, combined with their easy means of summoning reinforcements from their worldship onto the battlefield, accounted for the Anvilgardian defeat; Oldblood Kraq-Nar would not be defied in his celestial search this time.

With the expedition to the Sporehollows now in tatters, Lord Rinos Wildbringer led his troops back to Tears of Fate, fortifying the region against enemy counter-attacks. Battle lines had now been drawn all across the Flamescar Peninsula, with each contending faction possessing a foothold on the mainland.

After the battle the Realmgate shifted to Riven Depths.

Glory Point progress:
Hammerhal   3❂/30❂
Anvilgard       2❂/30❂
Seraphon      3❂/30❂

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Despite the minor setback to his plans at Sporehollows, Lord Rinos Wildbringer was fairly pleased with the tides of war thus far. The Hammerhal forces had been beaten back once already, and now his scouts reported that they were coming back to have another go. Rinos knew House Dawnspur was seething with rage by now, their firstborn humiliated at his hands at the Tears of Fate. And an angry opponent was an easy opponent, something that could be effortlessly trapped and destroyed. His knights would crush the foe's peasant levies, especially with the aid of some old friends at the site of battle he had chosen...

The forces of Anvilgard marched northwest along the mountain range, making good use of their previous victory over Hammerhal to cover some ground before the enemy could regroup. They made it all the way up to the Caverns of Fulminax, where Lord Rinos decided to formulate a cunning trap for the approaching Hammerhalians. Just as the Anvilgard scouts had claimed, a great army marched into the region not three days after Rinos's arrival. The Anvilgardians let their foe set up camp in a crumbled hilltop holdfast before launching their attack in the dim of dawn, rushing the Hammerhal encampment in the hopes that their foe would not be able to escape them. Fortunately, Lord Aenarel of House Dawnspur did not even attempt a retreat. Unfortunately, he and his army mounted a stiff resistance and proceeded to wipe out the entire Anvilgard force in the swift and bloody Battle of the Caverns of Fulminax; only Lord Rinos himself managed to make it out alive, his black dragon badly battered and bleeding.

After the battle the Realmgate shifted to The Chains. Rumours abound that Anvilgardian spellbenders had a hand in the rogue realmgate's movement deep into Hammerhal territory...

Glory Point progress:
Hammerhal   7❂/30❂
Anvilgard       2❂/30❂
Seraphon      3❂/30❂

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Despite suffering serious losses at the Caverns of Fulminax, Lord Aenarel Dawnspur decided to push eastwards with what he had left of his forces. They forded the rivers at the foot of the mountain range, before marching out onto the plains around the Eyes of the Prismatikon, a series of high towers housing arcane lenses that could channel and direct the fiercely hot Aqshyan energies that run rampant across the Flamescar Plateau. Once there, the ragged and depleted Hammerhal forces got beset upon by a fierce cohort of Seraphon, summoned and guided by the mastermind of an accompanying Slann Starmaster.

The attack of the saurus came in the dead of night, initiating the Battle for the Eyes of the Prismatikon in which entire cohorts of coldblooded warriors disappeared and reappeared at will to strike the aelves where it hurt the most. Mounds of slain saurus piled at the feet of Lord Aenarel and his Swordmasters, but the Slann kept calling more and more warriors down from the stars, slowly wearing the Hammerhalians down. Only when aelven scouts managed to seize control of the Eyes were the Seraphon routed, but at a great cost to House Dawnspur: Aenarel and his dragon had been severely wounded, and his personal Swordmaster retinue had been decimated. As aelven reinforcements flowed in over the next few days, the construction began to fortify the region and establish a hefty garrison to watch over it.

After the battle the Realmgate still remained at the The Chains.

Glory Point progress:
Hammerhal   16❂/30❂
Anvilgard       2❂/30❂
Seraphon      3❂/30❂

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Unable to continue the hunt for the fleeing Anvilgard forces after the wounds he received at the Eyes of the Prismatikon, Lord Aenarel sent his nephew Grandmage Yriel who had just arrived from the west coast with fresh reinforcements. Yriel set off with his coven of Archmages to track down Lord Rinos Wildbringer in the Vitriolic Swamps, where the noble was gathering his strength and supporters. After a long search the Hammerhal legions found the enemy encampment, and, confident in their numerical and magical superiority, attacked the small enemy force immediately. The fierce Battle of the Vitriolic Swamps ensued, in which the outnumbered Anvilgardians fought like cornered rats and managed to cut their way to the mage-coven leading the Hammerhal army. In the end, Yriel's heavily wounded form was carried from the battle by a handful of his last few personal retainers, leaving all the other mages and the rest of the Hammerhalians grow cold on the field.

Soon after his glorious underdog victory over his hunters, Lord Rinos Wildbringer became the hunter once more. With the troops he had managed to regroup after the previous battles he pushed east, into the region of the Infinity Gears, huge clockwork mechanisms capable of controlling the movements of Flamescar Plateau's rogue Realmgate. Instead of easy conquest the Anvilgard forces found the Seraphon once more working their grand plans, obviously laying claim to the region's arcane architecture. In the Battle of the Infinity Gears the celestial daemons pushed the invading Anvilgardians from the region, tossing them back to the murky marshlands of othe nearby swamps.

After the battles the Realmgate shifted to Eyes of the Prismatikon.

Glory Point progress:
Hammerhal   18❂/30❂
Anvilgard       13❂/30❂
Seraphon      7❂/30❂

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His nephew having been defeated at the Vitriolic Swamps, Lord Aenarel Dawnspur organized the Hammerhal forces gathered at the Eyes of the Prismatikon to march east in an attempt to divide the Anvilgard domain and gain a foothold in the enemy rear. Aenarel chose a force of elite Lion Rangers, mounted Reavers and noble knights for this daring assault, entering the Razorfang Sprawl and setting upon a series of watchtowers the Anvilgardians had built there to keep an eye on the region.

Lord Rinos Wildbringer had been massing his own legions after his victory at the swamps, meaning to unleash a massive two-pronged invasion into the Prismatikon over the next few days. The urgent news of the Hammerhal advance into the Razorfang Sprawl forced the Anvilgard general to re-organize his forces and his plans both, taking a contingent of heavy cavalry and hurrying to the aid of the watchtower garrisons. The two armies met in the Battle of the Razorfang Sprawl, the huge numbers of horsemen on both sides charging headlong into the foe in a crash that shook the ground. As the dust settled, both armies had been annihilated almost to a man, leaving the grasslands strewn with corpses for as far as the eye can see. The scattered survivors retreated back to their respective strongholds in the neighbouring regions, leaving the Razorfang Sprawl still unclaimed.

After the battle the Realmgate stayed at the Eyes of the Prismatikon.

Glory Point progress:

Hammerhal   22❂/30❂

Anvilgard       15❂/30❂

Seraphon      7❂/30❂

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Wasting no time after the inconclusive battle at the Razorfang Sprawl, Lord Rinos Wildbringer assembled all available Anvilgardian forces at the Tears of Fate and launched an ill-prepared but well-timed invasion into the Eyes of the Prismatikon to the north. Having had no time to redress and repose, the Hammerhal garrison had to count entirely upon the defenses they had raised in the region: a series of loci that powered the magical barrier that stretched in between them, sheltering the Hammerhal troops from enemy attacks.

Led by barely recovered Lord Aenarel Dawnspur himself, the desperate defenders mounted a stiff resistance to the invading Anvilgardians. The Second Battle of the Prismatikon saw Lord Rinos's forces destroy several of the loci, breaching the barrier and slaughtering their protectors. Lord Aenarel was forced to retreat back into the fortified Caverns of Fulminax along with a ragged group of beaten survivors.

After the battle, the Realmgate shifted to Black Iron Peninsula.

Glory Point progress:

Hammerhal   28❂/30❂

Anvilgard       23❂/30❂

Seraphon      7❂/30❂

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After his bitter defeat in the hands of Rinos Wildbringer and the ensuing retreat from the Prismatikon, Lord Aenarel had mustered what forces he could on the Coast of Ill Omen and set southwards once more, following reports of enemy movement towards the Valley of Fallen Gods. This wind-swept region was the only stretch of land his Hammerhal forces still needed to secure in order to stall further Anvilgard advance to the west, before the arduous process of pushing them back into the Searing Sea could begin. One more battle and the thrice-cursed invaders would realize the futility of their war effort.

All three contending factions were well aware of the region's importance, and each of them sent an army to secure it. The combatants met in the shadow of an old fort, engaging in a three-way battle that shook the land and soaked the earth in blood and ichor. The Battle of the Valley of Fallen Gods saw Anvilgard and the Seraphon bleed each other badly before the Hammerhalians got stuck in, thundering through the whirling melee while cutting down everyone in their path. In the end the Seraphon decided to cut their losses and retreated, and the Anvilgardians soon followed suit in order to preserve what remained of their forces.

Hammerhalian legions stood victorious on the field, safe in the knowledge that the defence line they had now drawn across the peninsula would keep the interests of their city secure from outside threats.

The Second Firestorm campaign ends with a victory for the Aelves of Hammerhal!