Second Battle of the Prismatikon

Greetings!

Once again the forces of Hammerhal and Anvilgard met upon the battlefield, this time fighting it out to the rhythm of Battleplan: Protect the Wards from the Malign Sorcery book. The Hammerhalians had three Foci on the table, objectives that boasted 15 Wounds and a Save of 3+ each. These Foci could be destroyed in close combat like any other model, but until destroyed they would prevent any and all Anvilgard models from entering the Hammerhal deployment zone.

Should the Anvilgardians get even a single unit into the Hammerhal deployment zone by the end of the 5th battleround, they would be victorious. Any other result would be a successful defense on the part of the defenders!

Onwards, to battle!

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Lord Aenarel watched the mage tap the crystal thrice with her staff, causing the focus to flicker into an arcane life. Golden light danced within the prismatic crystal, growing stronger by the moment and linking up with similar grow from the two other crystals spread out in a line before the assembled ranks of the Hammerhal army. The foci reached out for each other, linking their golden light, and suddenly a bright flash of light washed over the onlookers. As the aelves blinked the colourful afterglow out of their eyes, they beheld a barrier of shimmering, arcane force that stretched out before them, forming a magical palisade in between them and the cloud of dust in the horizon that they knew to be an Anvilgard invasion force.

"The ward is strong and stabilized, my liege," the mage reported, a hint of a proud smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Very well," Aenarel replied, sighing. He was weary to the bone. Losing his eldest son in the incessant fighting over the last few weeks had taken its toll on the old noble.
"Take up position at the altar on our eastern flank. I need someone there to look after the barrier's integrity during the battle. Lothar will make sure the centre holds. No doubt our foe will try to disrupt the foci in any ways take can possibly come up with."
"I'd be disappointed if they didn't," the mage remarked before bowing and taking her leave.

Almost as soon as the aelves of Hammerhal had managed to get into position was, the horizon disgorged an army of their more sinister counterparts. The dread army of Anvilgard had arrived.

Despite the knowledge that they were safe behind the shimmering magical palisade, the Hammerhalian lines shuddered. Swordsmen breathed in quick, shallow gasps, horses stomped and cavalrymen whispered prayers to their aelven pantheon. No matter how strong anyone believed their position, they knew the wrath of Anvilgard was something that could overcome even the steepest odds.

Giving their cowering foes no time to recover, the forces of Lord Rinos surged onwards atop their swift drakespawn steeds. Stormcast Palladors and duardin longbeards flanked the aelven heavy cavalry, marching on in lockstep with the rest of the army.

Lord Rinos Wildbringer himself soared above the battlefield atop his black dragon, steering the behemoth towards the magical palisade and dropping onto the ground like a comet. The ground shook as the monster landed, stretching its neck at the transparent wall it could not breach. Lord Rinos struck the glowing locus with his enchanted blade, drawing sparks and causing terrible cracks on the crystal's surface. The loci were apparently vulnerable to physical damage. 

The aelven lord's laughter echoed across the battlefield at the realisation, and as if in response to its master's delight the dragon unleashed a gout of noxious gas at the Hammerhalian Dragon Blade knights just beyond the wall. The poisoned fumes toppled a rider from his saddle, and the rest of the knights were skewered on barbed lances as the first squadron on Drakespawn Knights reached their lord and thrust their long-reaching weapons through the barricade that no living thing could pass. The Hammerhalian Swordmasters and another band of Dragon Blade knights converged upon the attackers, seeking to prevent the imminent breach.

On the western flank the Hammerhalian Reavers rode to the edge of the sparse woods just outside the magical barrier, pouring a hail of shafts into the duardin making their way towards the battle. A pair of mountainfolk fell, but the rest merely closed ranks and grumbled something about aelves having been better marksmen in the olden days.

Right beyond the determined duardin a trio of Stormcast Vanguard-Raptors hefted their hurricane crossbows and dispensed a volley of bolts into the ranks of Hammerhal. A handful of Swordmasters fell, their lamellar armour pierced by storm-blessed bolts, and before the ranks could be redressed the duardin let out a resounding warcry and charged the barrier - even though they themselves could not pass, their axes caught the flanks of some of the more careless aelves beyond.

Lord Rinos was focused on bringing down the crystal that upheld the magical wall while his dragon picked up and tore apart one Dragon Blade knight at a time. When the Anvilgard War Hydra was goaded into the fray, the fate of the Hammerhalian heavy cavalry was sealed.

With his cavalry slain and the numbers of his Swordmasters dropping quickly, Lord Aenarel Dawnspur descended from the skies with his red dragon, plummeting into the War Hydra and tearing off four of its six serpentine heads. He fought with desperate determination, wanting to secure the centre of his battleline and make sure the enemy did not force a breach into the barrier with their initial monster-headed assault.

What he did not see was the situation on the eastern flank. The Stormcast Pallador cavalry had stormed the steps of the ancient temple, their javelins transfixing the mage guarding the locus crystal stored there. As the mage fell dead onto the broken tile floor, the Stormcast closed in on the crystal and began pounding it with shots from their boltstorm pistols.

Seeking to prevent the fall of the eastern crystal, a squadron of Reavers charged through the barrier from the Hammerhal side, plunging their spears into the armoured forms of the celestial warriors. One of the Stormcast fell, but the remaining two began dropping the aelves from their saddles with well-placed shots. If anything, the Reavers had postponed the attack on the flank with their lives.

The situation looked desperate for Hammerhal. The western crystal was fine, but the ones in the centre and to the east were already flickering dangerously, their surfaces scarred and dented. The numbers of the defenders were dropping rapidly, whereas the horizon was filled with Anvilgardians still making their way into the battle proper.

A squadron of Hammerhalian Reavers managed to flank the invasion force from the west, driving their spears into the hurricane-crossbow detachment of Stormcast in the Anvilgard rear. They nearly managed to take out the nest of automated crossbow-fire, but the last remaining Vanguard-Raptor put up a real fight as he mowed down the aelven riders as fast as they came for him.

Lord Aenarel thrust his blade into the heart of the Hydra rampaging across the centre lines, and his dragon trampled the dying monster under his claws. His gaze was drawn to Lord Rinos ravaging his Swordmasters, and so he issued a challenge to his rival...

As they had done many times before, the red and black dragon bit and clawed at each other in a mangle of wings, tails and teeth, even as the aelven lords atop the creatures exchanged blows with dazzling speed. Once again the Hammerhalian Lord proved his dominance over his Anvilgard counterpart, routing Rinos Wildbringer from the field.

By the time the Anvilgard general fled the field the central crystal had already been shattered, but there were no invaders to make use of the breach in the magical barrier. The last remaining Drakespawn Knight near the central ruins was felled by a handful of surviving Swordmasters, thus clearing the initial point of assault of attackers.

Although the Hammerhalians had triumphed in the centre, they now saw the direness of the overall situation: the eastern crystal had fallen as well, its guardians slain and the barrier gone, with a steady flow of Anvilgard cavalry pouring into the region through the gap.

It was hopeless. Even though the badly depleted Reavers still roamed the field, assailing the advancing enemy infantry columns at every turn, Lord Aenarel saw that the day was lost.

With a heavy heart he picked up an ivory war-horn and blew the signal to retreat. On the horizon he could see Anvilgard's reinforcements approaching, their infantry legions and bellowing war-monsters filling the fields beyond the site of battle.

Lord Aenarel Dawnspur made his retreat with a handful of Swordmasters and a single Archmage, leaving his Reavers to be torn down from their saddles by the arriving enemy forces. There was nothing he could do but gather his forces in the mountains over the coming weeks, hoping for a chance to strike back. But no matter what he planned or what he did, he had just lost the Eyes of the Prismatikon to Anvilgard.

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A victory for Anvilgard!

The scenario was a fun one, and it kept us guessing the victor up until the very last rounds when my opponent managed to smash another crystal just before the game ended. Damn! I had only one battleround ago just managed to clear the first breach he had created, only for another one to appear not soon after. Even aelven movement speeds did not allow me to intervene with the events of the eastern flank anymore after that!

A great game, and a suitably grand result as the campaign is now drawing to a conclusion. We're looking at a single 3-player megafight still to occur, and that will be the end of this Firestorm!