Battle of the Lifesprings

Greetings!

Back again with yet another narrative battle report from our ongoing Firestorm campaign, this time pitting the armies of Order, Destruction and Chaos against each other in a three-way game!

The scenario provided us with a special rule that healed every General when they stood in their own territory during their hero phase. Our objectives were drawn from the Open War deck, and the scenario we drew rewarded points for having models in neutral or opponent's territories.

On with the story!



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With their Prophet gone missing once again after the recent defeat at the hands of the Thule Brotherhood, the Sunsplitterz were eagerly following Big Boss Grom the Punch of the Shifty Mountain. Not known for his skills at large-scale hunt or warfare, Grom led a fraction of the tribe in several self-repetitive circles before eventually ending up near the region of Lifesprings.

The warband's foragers came back with news of "oomans" and "spiky oomans" having been spotted in the area, meaning that there was something important afoot amidst the bubbling overgrown ponds. Little did the orruks know that the water here had healing capabilities, an asset both Order and Chaos were chasing quite eagerly in order to add it to their war repertoire.

Fortunately one of the tribe's Wardokks had happened to tag along with the warband, and under his holy guidance the Sunsplitterz found their adversaries already almost at each other's throats.

"Waaaaagh!" Grom bellowed.
"Waaaaaaaaaaagh!" replied the warband.

This would be the week's best carnage.

Soldiers of the Thule Brotherhood marched into the area in good order, their general distributing orders from the back of a rather impressive Griffon. Likewise the forces of Cult Hu had brought one of their Khorgorath flesh-monsters to the field, to back up their armoured host of gigantic warriors.

For a while only the gentle bubbling of the springs and the distant buzz of insects were the only sounds in the region, as the three rival warbands stared at each other. Having taken their measure and deciding the Lifesprings were worth it, the Thule Brotherhood acted first. Drums began beating a battle-rhythm and the sounds of marching men resumed.

Both Cult Hu and the Sunsplitterz reacted immediately, surging forth towards the middle of the field. That seemed to be the place where the best scrap was going to take place.

Arrowboys let fly a volley, targeting some Nurglings that were bouncing up from the ground at the foot of a nearby tree. The shafts sank harmlessly into the mud and moss, letting the little daemons crawl into this reality in relative peace.

In the north a mob of orruks was running for the lone form of Slambo in the distance. Last time that Chaos Champion had inflicted grievious casualties on the tribe, and the orruks were eager to test their skills against this spiky human. The enemy Magister disagreed, however, sending a bolt of iridescent fire crash into the swarm of boyz, hitting one orruk straight to the chest. The sunsplitter tumbled to the ground on the run and rolled on the grass before coming to a halt.
But only for a moment.
Soon the body began twitching violently. Tentacles and horns sprouted from the carcass, and soon the dead orruk's form had twisted entirely: were once had been a fallen comrade, now stood a horrible Chaos Spawn!

The Thule Brotherhood seemed to have scores to settle with Cult Hu, as the majority of its forces were massed to the north to fight Chaos. Only a sinlge regiment on Swordsmen marched towards the Sunsplitterz in good order, obeying the laws of any educated military engagement.

Slambo took his chance in the confusion created by the Chaos Spawn and charged into the orruks, swinging his axes and tearing into the horde along with the tentacled apparition.

Chaos was now fighting on two fronts: the forces of Order clashed with them in the east, while the orruks were swarming over their flank in the west. Luckily Slambo seemed to have the situtation under control, his twin axes swriling about in thight chops as the cut down the orruks one by one.

The Arrowboys were peppering the enemy Swordsmen with volleys of arrows to slow down their advance, but only managed to inflict light casualties. Most of the weepwood-tipped shafts merely stuck into the freeguilders' shields, unable to punch through, and only two men fell from the marching ranks of the freeguilders.

Their peppering was answered by the Peppermill. A multi-barreled cannon from the arsenals of Ironweld, this device of death spun to life and spat a torrent of white-hot lead into the orruks, one of which came apart in a blast of gore under the fusillade.

The fighting was spreading all over the Lifesprings. Each faction was exchanging blows with the two others, and the tally of the dead climbed ever higher with each passing moment.

A bolt of blue fire scorched Big Boss Grom's back, hurled by none other than the Cult Hu Magister himself. The Wardokk was desperately chanting and dancing to provide strength and protection to the boyz around him, but the Chaos magic was too strong to be denied.

The Big Stabbas knew better than to trust fickle magics. They rammed their giant spears into the back of the Chaos Spawn that was eating away at the orruks in the north, slaying the monster instantly. Slambo didn't seem too concerned about this, he merely continued his monotone job of hack, chop and slash. No matter how many orruks hurled themselves at him at once, the Champion always sidestepped and brought his axes around to finish the foolhardy brutes.

The Thule Brotherhood was gaining the upper hand in the east, slaying the cultists with such speed that they could soon commit more troops to wiping out the orruks.

The Swordsmen didn't wait for reinforcements, though. They sounded their battle-horn and charged in, entering a bloody melee with the Arrowboys almost a head-and-a-half taller than themselves.

Chaos was clearly taking the brunt of this battle's beating. Only Slambo, some Chaos Warriors and a bunch of Nurglings remained, as even their Magister was run down by triumphant Demigryph Knights.

Even without the help from the Chaos Spawn, Slambo was more than capable of carving up the unit of orruks on the west flank. Things got a bit more serious when the Big Stabbas rushed in, their enormous spear-tips sundering the Champion's enchanted armour

With the battle clearly starting to tilt in the favour of Order, Big Boss Grom decided to do all he could. That is, to get stuck in and fight as much as possible before the battle was over.

Even as the Arrowboys were getting overwhelmed in their struggle with the Swordsmen, Grom sprinted around the large rock in the middle of the battlefield to hurl himself into the knot of Chaos Warriors hiding behind it. A low cut took apart the legs of the first barbarian, the rising axe then splitting the head of another. Butting his forehead into the face of the third, Grom let out a wordless cry of excitement and joy. Now this was a proper scrap!

He tripped the fourth warrior to the ground before sinking his axe into its chest, only to find that the fifth was already running away into the distance. Grunting frustratedly, he set off after the final Chaos Warrior across the middle opening.

He hadn't got far before he felt a sting in his ankle. He shook off the Nurgling that had bitten into him, but soon an entire swarm of them were trying to cling to his feet.

"Get off ya filthy meat-sacks! Ya ain't no good fight!" Grom bellowed as he swung his axe at the little daemons that had followed him all the way from the shadows of the trees near the large rock. The swarm of daemons came apart in a shower of green blood and limbs, the Nurglings scattering all over the grass, dead. The bite Grom had suffered was starting to look nasty, the orange flesh around the teeth-marks blackening rather worryingly.

Just as Grom lifted his gaze from his black ankle, a fireball struck him in the stomach. The Big Boss doubled over, his flesh smoking as he fell into an orange-black heap on the field. In the distance Battlemage Luther Flamestrike lowered his hand, smiling at the result of his work.

The soldiers of the Thule Brotherhood commanded the field. The forces of Chaos were beaten and the Sunsplitterz had been scattered. The Wardokk led the few remaining orruks out of the area, the drums of the humans still beating a triumphant rhythm that rang menacingly in their ears.

The forces of Order now controlled the Lifesprings, a source of healing waters that would prove to be a great boon to their war effort. Heavy fortifications were raised and garrisoned to guard this important asset.

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A nice game!

It was exciting to fight a three-way battle, lots of turns and twists to spice up the struggle. The area control objective was excellent in spreading the fighting across the board and there were several hotspots on the battlefield. Chaos began the game right in between the other two factions, and as a result Cult Hu took the brunt of the beating in this battle despite the general balance of the scenario.

I'm looking forward to doing more of these multiplayer games in the future, they are a lot of fun!