#103 Battle XXII - The Reemergence of the Heisenbergs
Rumours of an increase in beastman activity on Barfun Moor reached the ears of House Heisenberg. Aware that they needed to demonstrate some active concern for the integrity of Vyrkos territory, the Countess gathered her forces. (The Count of course remained in his laboratory with his experiments.) Inviting the Mistress of the Hunt to join her, she set out to remind the Children of Chaos that the true alpha beasts of Barfun Moor were the Soulblights. What better way to teach them that lesson than to desecrate their infamous herdstone, the Weirdstone of Barfun Moor...
Owen wanted a break from his Stormcast Eternals, so he borrowed my son's Beastmen for our latest WHednesday game. This collection is still relatively small and lacking in battleline, so we both fielded about 1150 points, with the Beasts of Chaos being distinctly monster-heavy with their Jabbersythe, Ghorgon and Megagargant! We played the 'Sunder the Herdstone' battleplan from White Dwarf which fitted the narrative perfectly.
Far away in Hysh, Lady Beauvoir is desperately trying to bring the Crusaders of the Rose back to save her beloved Salas Nova. Meanwhile in Shyish...
The Weirdstone of Barfun Moor was clearly visible across the muddy grass. Countess Zkyla Heisenberg ordered her entourage of Blood-born and Blood Knights to protect the left flank while the Mistress of the Hunt and her pack of dire wolves stood on the right. The moor seemed oddly quiet.
Suddenly, from behind the massive rocks on both flanks, four monstrous beasts emerged: The smallest was a mighty Doombull, bellowing what appeared to be orders. The Countess recognised him as the infamous Brad the Impala. Alongside him strode the massive bovine form of a Ghorgon, and across the field, not far from the Weirdstone itself, the deranged spectacle of a Jabberslythe capered into view. But most alarming - and closest to the Soulblight lines - was none other that the mighty Milus Kowrek, the Warstomper Megagargant.
As these monstrous beasts stepped forward to bar the way to the monolith, a Bray-Shaman led a herd of Ungor Raiders out of the darkness behind the herdstone where they readied their bows.
"Tzorl," the Countess commanded her necromancer, "summon the Glymmsmen onto our left. Tu'co bring the Blood Knights around behind me and leave the deadwalkers to entertain the Son of Behemat!"
Galloping away from the looming Warstomper, Heisenberg's Panthers thundered around to the right flank, while a huge hoard of zombies clawed their way out of the earth and scrambled over one another as they surged forward and surrounded the towering figure of Milus Kowrek.
Zombies were flying across the battlefield as Milus Kowrek slowly but surely beat off his assailants.
Suddenly, the Jaberslythe slumped gracelessly from the sky, landing just in front of the Mistress of the Hunt and staring at her stupidly. She fought hard against its aura of insanity as she tried to cast her spells. The blood-born Staßenkatze and Blood Knights charged past her, but as they approached the monster of madness she could see they were not unaffected. The Blood Knights ploughed into the Doombull and cut him down in a mindless frenzy of violence which also took out two of their own. The Blood-born, also driven to insanity, assaulted the Jabberslythe itself, carving it to pieces. The lithe Staßenkatze managed to avoid the frenzied blows of their fellows, but as the great monster collapsed, every one of them was writhing in agony, incapacitated by its acidic bile blood.
Her mind clearing with the demise of the chaotic monster, Zkyla realised her mission was failing. "The herdstone!" bellowed the Countess, "We came for the herdstone!"
Tzorl frantically summoned more Dire Wolves and sent them to throw their rotting bodies against the Weirdstone of Barfun Moor. Tu'co led the last of the blood knights through a storm of ineffectual Ungor arrows to assist them. Bärbel and Zkyla charged the Ghorgon to distract it, just as a herd of Bestigors arrived on their field of battle in answer to the primordial call.
But the Megagargant had finally seen off the hoard of zombie freeguilders. Brutally he waded through the remnant of the Soulblight army as the diminutive brayherd cheered and chanted his name. The Weirdstone of Barfun Moor would not fall today...
I reckon that was one of the most fun games we have had - you can't beat a Jabberslythe for entertainment value! And the Ghorgon had his moment too - see below... I hardly managed to scratch the herdstone, let alone sunder it, but when it's that entertaining and I'm fighting against an army I've painted, I really don't mind loosing at all! Looking back, I definitely could have improved my performance with better thinking ahead and placing of my support units, but it was always going to be a tough one to win, especially when all I had to fight against was those huge monsters!
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Countess Zkyla Heisenberg tried in vain to scrape the manure out of her hair. She had endured a profoundly unpleasant experience and was desperate to return to the creature comforts of Heisenberg Mansion. She cursed herself for capitulating to the intimidation of Bärbel Holzhaus and the lupines who always looked down on the more feline Vyrkos vampires like herself. She knew they regarded her type as lazy and vain, even though they respected her cruelty and luck. And she had, she supposed, been lucky: The Ghorgon had swallowed her whole, which had been most unpleasant, but she had passed through its multiple stomachs relatively unharmed. Managing to keep a firm grim on her blade proboscian, she had sliced and stabbed at the great beast's intestinal tract from within throughout her long, dark journey from gullet to rump. Thus she was able to regenerate from the damage caused by the monster's digestive juices by drinking deep of its bovine blood. It had been a very nasty ordeal, but it was some comfort to know, as she was finally excreted in a massive, steaming pile of dung, that the Ghorgon had surely experienced the worse stomach upset of its accursed life.
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