#66 Battle X - Deliverance of the Overlords

"Och Melnitz! D'you wanna try recalibrating the aether-flange?" Endrinmaster Spengler called as he hovered beneath his dirigible, adjusting one of the propeller regulators. With a cough and splutter the Grunstock Gunhauler started to rise into the air. Then with an abrupt bang it lurched back to earth to settle on the tombstones, which were by now little more than rubble.

Melnitz's eyes darted around the graveyard as she looked up from the cockpit of the small craft. From her vantage point she could distinctly see ethereal wisps of ectoplasm curling around a sepulchre not far away. The Nighthaunt were coming.

She had every confidence that Spengler's weapon designs would be effective against such non-physical entities - that was what they were designed for after all. But it had been some very physical, flying, ghoulish entities that had caused their current predicament. The Black Marines had been driving a swarm of Crypt Flayers away from their precious aether-stream when they had suddenly been counter-attacked by a Vengorian Lord. The fleet had become split up and the two Endrinmasters had found themselves executing the forced landing of a Gunhauler deep within Barfunweltz Cemetery, alongside a few Skywardens and a unit of Thunderers. 

"Try again!" shouted Spengler, "I've replaced the tensile coil."

Melnitz worked frantically with the controls. The craft lurched again. She felt a sudden chill, even through her aethersuit. Beneath them, the black-clad Thunderers had silently taken up a defensive position. The Nighthaunt were nearly upon them. The Gheistbusters were going to need to live up to their name.

Suddenly, the Gunhauler lifted up into the air; steady and smooth this time.

"Ai, there ya go," called Spengler, "no problem!"

"Our problem's over there boss..." replied Melnitz, pointing at a spectral funeral carriage drifting through the gravestones as easily as a Frigate through clouds. As she struggled into her endrinharness, more and more shimmering blue forms were floating into view. "I think we're gonna to need some help here!"

"Help?" scoffed Spengler, hefting his aethercannon, "Who you gonna to call? Anyway, we ain’t afraid o' no gheists!"

1350 points; we adapted the 'Prospectors Down!' battleplan from the Kharadron Overlords battletome, with Owen's Gravewalkers rescuing my son's beleaguered duardin from my Nighthaunt. As usual, the better photos are Owen's.

The Cortege of the Foolish Martyrs

The stranded Gheistbusters

Gravewalkers relief force

"All aboard the Ecoship!" screamed Melnitz. 

Mere seconds after the collapsible compartment hatch was closed, the beleaguered Overlords forces were hit by a blue-green wave of terror. Black Coach, hexwraiths and a Knight of Shrouds cut down the Sky Wardens before they had time to scream and swept on unhindered into the freshly repaired Grundstock Gunhauler. Melnitz watched as it was dragged inexorably from the sky by the raging Nighthaunts. "Everybody out again!" she cried.

The Thunderers' captain was trapped in the wreckage but the rest of the duardin planted their sturdy feet and raised the weapons Endrinmaster Spengler had crafted for them. It was time to die, but they would make sure these ghiests paid a proper price.

Suddenly the battlefield was lit up with the blinding flashes of lightening. As their aethersuit's visors adjusted for the light level, the Gheistbusters saw that help had come unasked for in the form of a force of black-clad Stormcast Eternals! Annihilators and Vanguard-Hunters of the Anvils of the Heldenhammer, known locally as the Gravewalkers, descended from the heavens under the command of Lord-Imperatant Caelon the Grey. Their sustained fire, along with that of the Kharadrons, instantly blasted the Black Coach into ectoplasmic shreds.

But before Melnitz could express her gratitude she found herself fighting none other that the enemy general, a terrifying Knight of Shrouds. Even as her endrinharness whirred into action, her allies - both duardin and Stormcast - were shredding the lord of gheists with guns and bows. As she delivered the final blow which sent him back into the underworlds, her victory shout echoed round the inside of her aether helmet.

Ever enraged by the success of others and eternally offended by any military prestige, the infamous Kurdoss Valentian, consort to the Mortarch of Grief, was engaged with both of the top ranking Anvil officers. With bitter hatred he swung his mighty mace against Lord-Imperatant and Lord-Aquilor alike. The Nighthaunt's curse guided his blows and by the time the Stormcast officers had driven him off, the Lord-Imperatant was severely wounded. But even as his faithful gryph hound licked as his wounds, the Apostate drifted around the corner of a sepulchre and callously blasted away his life spirit with a bolt of amethyst magic.

Yet, despite the fall of the Stormcast general, the Apostate could see this battle was lost for now. The hexwraiths had fallen protecting the Knight of Shrouds they called the Zealot; and the other Nighthaunt forces were achieving little. Even though the spiritual host of the Congregation of Foolish Martyrs had obliterated the intimidating Annihilators, they were instantly shot to pieces in return. With a scowl, the Apostate Liesel Sommer faded to black...

Minor victory to forces of Order after two battle rounds. 

Great fun as ever, but apparently not enough to engage my ten year old's attention for more than a turn (I blame video games). The Nighthaunt charges were unexpectedly brutal in this game: having never managed it before I rolled no less than four 'waves of terror'. And the Spirit Hosts' prolific 'frightful touches' saw off the Annihilators in short order. Also, I finally managed to get a spell off after gaining a reputation over a few games for being terrible to casting - and what a timely spell: arcane bolt to take the final wound off the Stormcast General. I may have lost, but that sort of thing makes it feel like a victory!

* * *

Elohiim Lord of Hosts watched as the Empty Hearse re-manifested faintly before him. “My blood-son, you allowed some Duardin to escape and return with their Gravewalker deliverers.” He knew the spirit within the black coach’s casket would not respond. “That is good. Let them spread the word that the Terror of Barfunweltz has finally returned.”

#67 THE FIFTH PETAL OF THE ROSE