#129 - Death to the Heralds of Yndrasta!

“So, we are not the first to arrive at the Ravaged Coast.”

Lord Tzuunak’s voice emanated from within a swarm of bats which instantly dispersed into the ashen sky. His little spies had reported an encampment of Sigmar’s stolen warriors just over the barren ridge above him. They were the first hostile force that his Brotherhood of Mannfred had come across in Aqshy, and Tzuunak and all his vampire knights were ravenous for blood. From what he could discern from the tiny minds of his chiropteran spies, the enemy’s livery was that of the Heralds of Yndrasta.

“Assemble!” he commanded. Within moments, the eager blood knights had formed up before him, dire wolves snapping and salivating around their nightmares’ hooves. “The enemy encampment lies just over this ridge. We shall form line and descend upon Sigmar’s lackeys like the wrath of Nagash. You shall drink blood tonight!”

Cheers erupted among his knights, especially from the more feral vampires of Heisenberg’s Panthers. His steed rearing, Lord Tzuunak turned and galloped up the slope.

Aurelius Lightbringer looked up at the empty ridge above the Heralds’ encampment. He was well aware that his force’s position was less than ideal, but this was where they had located the deposits of the precious emberstone. Yet his disquiet was not just based on tactical acumen, he had a premonition…

Suddenly, before his very eyes, the ridge was filled with the silhouettes of mounted knights and wolves. Without hesitation, the enemy surged down the scree slope towards the Stormcast encampment.

“Form lines! Defensive positions!”

Without an instant of hesitation, the Heralds of Yndrasta scrambled into position, but before Aurelius could even utter another order, the line of blood knights and dire wolves smashed into the Stormcast defences.

* * *

It was a delightfully bloody battle, and the Soulblight Gravelords drank deep of the enemy’s rich lifeblood. But despite himself, Lord Tzuunak admired the skill and tenacity of the Sigmarite warriors: They did not break and flee as many enemies would have done, and some of his knights, particularly the impetuous Panthers, found themselves dragged from their steeds and laid low by the Heralds’ Azyrite weapons. He himself was eventually overcome by the combined might of two Stormcast heroes. But victory was his, and his forces were able to gather up their first haul of the mysterious glowing emberstone shards. Tzuunak could feel their hot power invigorating him already.

* * *

Upon their return to camp, Lord Tzuunak was greeted by one of his thrall servants: “You have a visitor my Lord.”

He pushed past, flicking back the flap of his command tent. There in the darkness, standing before his campaign table was a figure he recognised. So, the Pontifex had sent him assistance – or rather, the Pilgrims had sent him a spy.

“Voltaire the Mortified,” he sneered, “so you’ve come to make yourself useful?”

This game kicked off our Ravaged Coast Path to Glory campaign. Dan and I had a great time with one of the bloodiest games of Age of Sigmar I have played, with constant combat across the board from turn one. The blood knights' initial charge was pretty powerful but they struggled against the Stormcast once in the meatgrinder of ongoing combat. Nonetheless, I stayed ahead on victory points throughout the game, and once Dan's army had been ground down to only two models, he wisely withdrew. This left me free to gather up 6 emberstone shards. I used these after the game to promote both Tzunaak and the Obsidian Brethren, and to recruit my Anvil of Apotheosis vampire Voltaire the Mortified.