Age of Sigmar League: Bonus Scenario

Scattered across the many Realms:

Some of the greatest tales of the Age of Sigmar are not about battles between balanced forces. They are the stories of heroic last stands, impossible defenses, and daring raids. This is one such tale.
Battles rage on across the Nine Realms, centered on the newly opened Realmgates. Mighty champions and lowly footmen alike strive to secure their holdings and gain the upper hand. At the most strategic places, devastating creatures are unleashed in the hope of decimating the enemy beyond recovery.
*This scenario may be used in place of any other league game, at any point during the league.

Bonus Scenario “Rampage!”

This battle is fought between a single terrifying monster, and an army of more numerous foes. The monster has been dispatched to wreak havoc on the enemy ranks, who are charged with crippling or destroying the creature before it can reach their main lines. While they hope their numbers and courage will prevail, they have hedged their bets with the last ditch effort of booby trapping the killing ground.

Forces:
One player chooses a single unit with the key word Monster as their army. Their opponent then chooses any units they wish to oppose it. These may not include any named Heroes and no Monsters, nor any single model with more than 6 wounds on its profile. There is no limit to the number of units this army may include, however. This is intended to represent the narrative of a scout or rear-guard force, away from the main battle, attempting to stop the monster from taking the field. All of the “big guns” are out on the battlefield that they are trying to keep the creature from reaching!

The Battlefield:
This battle is designed to be played on a 4x4 table. One piece of scenery must be placed in the center of each 2x2 quadrant

Battle Setup:
The Monster player sets up first, putting their single creature in the center of the table. The opponent then sets up one unit in each of the four quadrants of the battlefield. All models in a unit must be placed fully within one of the quadrants, and cannot be placed within 8” of the Monster for any reason. Any additional units are placed in reserve. Roll off for first turn. In the event of a tie, the Monster player goes first.

Objective:
The Monster has been dispatched to wreak havoc and sow fear. Its objective is to slay as many enemy combatants as possible. The army of foes is charged with killing the beast. Failing this, they have rigged a last ditch trap: an improvised realm portal that will banish the creature to another place, far from the battle.

Victory Conditions:
Keep track of the total number of models slain or that flee during the course of the battle.

• If the monster kills (or forces to flee) a total of 30 models, the game immediately ends in a Major Victory.
•  If at the start of any turn there are no enemies on the field besides the Monster, it has effectively eliminated the enemy, and the game immediately ends in a Major Victory.
• If the Monster is slain, the game immediately ends in a Major Victory for the army of foes. If the Monster is banished via the booby trap, the army of foes claims a Minor Victory.

 There is no limit on the number of turns played. Duke it out until one side is victorious, by any means necessary.

Scenario Special Rules:

An Army of Foes
At the beginning of their movement phase, the player in command of the army of foes may bring on units from their reserves (in every turn after the first). One unit must arrive if any are available, and only a maximum of four can be set up in a single turn.
Only one reserve unit can be set up in each quadrant per turn. They must arrive with all models within 6” of the edge of the battlefield; with no models outside of their designated quadrant; and more than 8” away from the Monster.
This counts as their movement for the movement phase.

Last Ditch Effort
The army of foes has been charged with destroying the Monster. In the event that they can't, however, they have a last ditch plan. A single piece of scenery is rigged with a makeshift portal that will suck the Monster into another dimension, far from the battlefield!

After setup, before the game begins, the non-Monster player secretly chooses one piece of scenery to contain the booby trap. Note this choice on a piece of paper, without revealing it to the Monster player. The choice will be revealed if the trap is triggered.

The portal can be called forth once per game, if the Monster is within 6” of the selected piece of terrain in the Hero Phase. Roll a dice, and measure the range from the monster to the scenery. If the roll is equal to or greater than the distance the monster is from the scenery in inches, the Monster is pulled through the portal and the battle ends. Otherwise, the battle continues, and the gateway cannot be opened again!

The better part of valor..
It is terrifying to face a huge, rampaging monster! The challenge only gets worse as casualties mount, and the foe's true strength becomes ever more obvious. The Bravery of all units in the army of foes is reduced by 1 on Turn 2, 2 on Turn 3, 3 on Turn 4, and so forth. A unit's Bravery can be reduced to zero, but never become negative

Remember that any models that flee are counted toward the Monster's kill total.

Boundless Fury:
The Monster is driven into a battle frenzy, fueled by adrenaline or demonic fury. It may pile in and attack twice in every Combat Phase, instead of only once.

The Monster heals one wound each time an enemy unit is set up on the battlefield from reserves. In addition, the Monster will heal a single wound during every Hero Phase that it begins within 3” of an enemy unit. These wounds MAY take the Monster's wounds over its starting total, representing the berserker fury of adrenaline and hatred that it has unleashed.

Age of Sigmar League Scenario 3: Shyish

Shyish, Realm of Death

As battle rages across the Nine Realms, lines are being drawn. Ancient enemies become unlikely allies, and old allies bitterly betray one another. But war never really changes, and soldiers follow their heroic leaders. As their gods and kings command, so do the armies march across the planes of existence.
Nagash, great lord of the Undead, has yet to break neutrality in the Age of Battle. Since the sundering of the alliance of the gods, he has brooded on his cold throne in Shyish, the under-realm of Death, scheming and considering. He has made the mistake of making too many enemies in the past, and nearly paid the ultimate price.
This time, Nagash is determined to be on the winning side--at least until his plans ripen to maturity. When they do, he will crush all before him and stand alone, as sole master of the Nine Realms. But until then.....

Scenario 3 “Aggressive Negotiations”

In an attempt to gain favor with Nagash, many of the opposing factions have dispatched emissaries to his Deathly Court in Shyish. The greatest heroes are occupied with the wars of the Age of Battle, leaving only their lesser counterparts to deal with matters of diplomacy.
In a perfect world, all would present their cases and be judged equally. The world being what it is, it is far more likely that only the strongest will ever be heard at all.
In this battle, two opposing heroes have been sent to the realm of Shyish to treat with Nagash. Rather than proceeding together to the Deathly Court, the rivals will settle their differences at the end of a blade. After all, to present a better argument than your foe is impressive, but why not seize the opportunity to silence him altogether?

Forces:
This battle represents the attempt of two rival heroes to assassinate one another, with nothing but an honor guard to aid them. Choose 1 non-named Hero to represent your General. This hero may not have more than 6 wounds on its starting profile. Choose up to four war scrolls to represent the hero's honor guard. Again, these may not include any named Heroes, no Monsters, nor any single model with more than 6 wounds on its profile.

The Battlefield:
This battle is designed to be played on a 4x4 table. Generate scenery per the normal AoS battle setup rules. When rolling for terrain effects, replace any result of "Damned" or "Mystical" with "Deadly" instead. The land of Shyish itself is hungry for souls!

Battle Setup:
Roll a dice. The player who rolls higher chooses a table edge and deploys one unit from his honor guard. Units may be deployed up to 9" from the player's table edge, and may never be deployed within 3" of the enemy for any reason.

The players then take turns placing units, until all units have been deployed. Once both armies have been fully deployed, the player who placed the last unit (i.e. the person who had more units to put down, or who went last) will place their general up to 9" from their own table edge, in the same manner as deploying other units. Then the opposing player places their general. This deployment represents both generals trying to outmaneuver each other with their limited forces.

Objective:
Both sides are seeking to slay the enemy general at all costs. The game goes for 6 turns, or until the enemy general is slain.

Sudden Death!
Should one of the generals be killed in the “top” of a turn, the opposing player gets a chance to retaliate. Play out the “bottom”, to complete the turn. You will obviously be at a disadvantage without your general, but if you can kill the enemy general, you can at least claim revenge, and a Minor Victory for your forces. If the turn ends with the enemy general still standing, you lose

Victory Conditions:

• If the enemy general is slain, and your general lives, claim a Major Victory.
• If the both generals are slain, each player claims a Minor Victory.
• If neither general is slain by turn 6, then the player who has inflicted more wounds on the enemy general claims a Minor Victory. Note: Wounds that have been healed do not count toward this victory condition.
• If an even number of wounds have been inflicted on both generals, then both players claim a Minor Victory (and hopefully had a great time playing such a close game).

Scenario Special Rules:

Soul Drain
In the Realm of Shyish, the very energies of Life and Death can be harnessed by those with sufficient will.
If your general is within 3” of a friendly unit during his hero phase, he may choose to drain that unit of their vital essence in order to heal himself. Your general may inflict any number of mortal wounds on that unit, and immediately heal that number of wounds to himself. Soul Drain may not bring the general's wounds beyond his starting total wounds.

Honor Guard
All units in this battle are elite, dedicated bodyguards. They are less likely to abandon their duty than other troops, even against impossible odds.
For all failed battle shock tests, halve the number of models who run, and round down. For example, a test failed by 5 will result in only 2 models fleeing (5 divided by 2 = 2.5, rounded down to 2). Note that if you only fail your test by 1, this means that no models flee after all!

On Deadly Ground
When rolling for terrain effects during setup, replace any result of "Damned" or "Mystical" with "Deadly" instead. The land of Shyish itself is hungry for souls!

Age of Sigmar League Scenario 2: Ghyran

Ghyran, Realm of Life

Realm Rules:

Lifebloom
If the roll for a unit's battleshock test is a 1, then that unit is blessed with magical vitality and no models from the unit flee, regardless of any modifiers. In addition, the life-sustaining magics have a curative effect and all wounds that have been suffered by models in that unit this turn are healed. This may cause single-wound models to rise back up from the dead to fight on! Note that units that are not required to take battleshock tests cannot benefit from Lifebloom either, as the healing energies naturally gravitate only to where they are needed.

Shield of Thorns
Wizards in the Realm of Life know the Shield of Thorns spell in addition to any other spells that they know. Shield of Thorns has a casting value of 6. If successfully cast, select a friendly unit within 18" of the caster. Until your next hero phase, any enemy unit that is within 3" of that unit at the end of the combat phase suffers D3 Mortal Wounds!

A Contest of Champions
The Age of Battle will be decided not by rank-and-file troops, but by the key players on each side of the conflict. Heroes dream of glorious single combats, and ordinary troopers aspire to make their names by bringing down a hero or monster. Any unit that targets a model with 5 or more wounds on its warscroll profile may reroll all hits against that model in close combat. Remember that no dice may be rerolled more than once for any reason.

The Laurels of Victory
If you have played this scenario previously, and scored a Major Victory, roll on the following table instead of the usual “Triumphs” table at the beginning of your next game:
1-2 Jade Scroll (or Jade Amulet): Pick a Hero in your army. This model can now attempt to cast Shield of Thorns even if it is not a Wizard. If this hero could already have cast Shield of Thorns (i.e. Wizard), then it will gain a talisman that allows it to ignore all Rend modifiers when when it makes saving throws instead.
3-4 Essence of Ghyran: Pick an unnamed Hero in your army. Once during battle, during your hero phase, this model may heal all wounds it has suffered. If you have no unnamed Heroes in your army, reroll this result.
5-6 Verdant Blessing: Pick one Totem or standard bearer in your army. Units with at least one model within 3” of this standard may add 1 to their saving throw rolls.

Scenario 2 “Pre-emptive Strike”

Setup:
Players must decide who will be the trespasser and who will be the sentinel. If one player has at least a third more total models than their opponent, then they MUST be the sentinel. Otherwise, roll a dice, and high roll chooses the roles

Trespassers Objective:
You have discovered a Realmgate that leads into the heart of enemy territory, and the time has come to make your move. You have established a beachhead on the other side, but the enemy has discovered you before the bulk of your forces could follow. You must hold the Realmgate at all costs!

Trespasser's Command Ability:
"Come Forth and Conquer!":
If your general is within 6" of the Realmgate in your hero phase and uses this ability, you can attempt to summon reinforcements. Roll a dice. If the result is a 4+, you may summon a new unit, or a unit that was slain earlier in the battle. If your general is a wizard or priest, you may add +2 to this roll.
The trespasser must set up the arriving unit so that all of its models are within 6" of the realm gate AND at least 3" from all enemy models. If both of these conditions cannot be met, then the summoning fails.

Sentinel's Objective:
Your patrol has discovered an enemy incursion through a hidden Realmgate. You are outnumbered, but reinforcements are on the way. You must destroy the Realmgate before the enemy can bring more troops through, even if it means your death. If the enemy is not stopped here, it could spell disaster.

Sentinel's Command Ability:
"Barge Through":
If your general uses this ability, pick your general or any keyword HERO or MONSTER from your army within 12" of your general. The model you choose can ignore enemy models in the movement phase, moving through them or within 3" of them freely. Roll a dice at the end of the movement phase. If the result is a 1, the model you chose takes 1 Mortal Wound!

Battlefield Setup:
Each table must have a Baleful Realmgate at the center. Roll for additional terrain and their effects per the normal setup rules.
The Trespasser sets up first, arranging all of his units within 12" of the Realmgate.
The Sentinel then picks a point on the any edge of the battlefield and sets up 1 to 3 units from his army. All models deployed in these units must be within 9" of the point picked, AND they must also be more than 12" from any enemy units. These are the advance scouts, who have sworn to do as much damage as possible before reinforcements arrive, even if it means their doom. The rest of the Sentinel's units are are not set up at the start of the battle, but will arrive later.
The Sentinel then decides who will go first.

Special Scenario Rules:

Wrath Awakened
At the start of each of the Sentinel's Movement phases, roll a dice for each of the units in their army that they have not yet set up, OR that have been slain. On a 3+, they may choose a point on any edge of the battlefield, then set up all models in the unit within 9" of the point they picked and a minimum of 9" from all enemy units. This setup counts as this unit's move for this Movement phase. Note that this means that they shoot, charge, and fight as normal!

Attack the Realmgate!
Models from the Sentinel's army can charge the Realmgate and attack it in the combat phase as though it were an enemy model. The Realmgate is considered to have a Save characteristic of 3+. If it suffers 8 wounds, it is destroyed, and the Sentinel claims victory.

Impending Doom
Roll a dice at the end of turn 4. If the result is 1 or 2, the battle ends. Otherwise, roll again at the end of turn 5. If the result is is a 1, 2, or 3, the battle ends. The battle will always end at the end of turn 6, with no dice roll necessary.

Victory Conditions:
If the Realmgate is destroyed, the Sentinel immediately claims a Major Victory.
If the Realmgate is still standing when the game ends, the Sentinel rolls 2D6. If the result is lower than the number of wounds the Realmgate has suffered, the Sentinel claims a Minor Victory.
In any other case, the Trespasser wins a Major Victory.

**Editor's Note/Public Service Annoucement**
"Pre-Emptive Strike" play-tested very well with armies of foot sloggers, wizards, and a general lack of overpowered units.
If you are one of our growing segment of more competitive players, or you want to bring some of your big nasties to the field (necrosphinx, dragons, elite cavalry, fliers, etcetera), I suggest that you implement the following rule:
"No single war scroll may inflict more than 1 wound on the Realmgate per combat phase, regardless of how many hits it scores. It takes time to smash down an ancient relic, no matter how strong you are!"
Some players have also suggested that perhaps the Realmgate's 3+ save should not be affected by rend modifiers. That certainly makes sense from a narrative standpoint--it is a magical stone doorway, after all. Feel free to add this if the players agree. Just remember that it will make the gate pretty tough to destroy with small units of regular troops. 3+ is a 40k Space Marine's save!
If you are playing mainly with infantry units and unnamed heroes, the scenario seems to play out fine as I have published it.

Age of Sigmar League Scenario 1: Azyr

Azyr, Realm of Heaven

It is the Age of Battle, and a new tide is rising. Across the 9 realms, forces both mortal and otherwise are mustering their strength, their eyes fixed on unclaimed territories. Every race of The World That Was is determined to forge a place in the new order. Their armies are on the march.
Mighty Sigmar sits atop his shining throne in Azyr, the realm of heaven. His strength is nearly ready to make a decisive push again the forces of darkness...but not yet. While his gates are open, he needs more time to marshal the full strength of his military forces. As his enemies begin to march from every quarter, Sigmar has recalled every possible ally to Azyr, in an effort to buy just a little more time.

Scenario 1 “Sacred Ground!

Setup:
This scenario requires at least one piece of terrain. If the terrain features roll results in 0 pieces, place at least this one. It is placed directly in the center of the table. Place any additional terrain pieces as normal.
Forces are deployed as normal, along opposite table edges. Forces may deploy up to 12” from their edge, but may not be set up closer than 12” to the central piece of terrain or any enemy unit for any reason.
At the beginning of the game, determine which of the forces will represent Order and which will represent Chaos. If there is not a narrative reason to determine this, players may simply choose. If they can't agree, simply roll a dice. The higher roll represents Order.

Objective:
In order to buy the forces of Order time, certain vital locations MUST be held. The game will go on until one force is eradicated or both sides have played 6 turns. When either of those conditions are met, whichever force has more models within 3” of the central terrain piece is the victor.

Major Victory: 
Enemy force is destroyed completely, and at least one model from your side is within 3” of terrain objective.
Minor Victory:
 At the end of 6 turns, you have more models than the enemy within 3” of terrain objective
-OR- Enemy force is destroyed, but you have no models within 3” of terrain objective

In the event of a true tie, both sides score a minor victory.
Please be sure to record whether you represented Order or Chaos on your score card, as it will affect the next period's scenario.

Realm of Azyr Special Rules:
Stand Fast: Sigmar's troops refuse to retreat in the face of the enemy as they defend the heavens themselves, rallying around their mighty generals. Heaven must not fall!

*This ability may only be used by the forces of Order!*
During any battles fought in the realm of Azyr, the forces of Order general's ability Inspiring Presence now affects ALL units within 12” inches of the general, instead of just one.
Sigmar's Wrath: Sigmar himself rules the realm of heaven, and he brooks no intrusions. His wrath is made manifest with the sacred lightning bolts forged for him by Grungni.

*This ability may only be used by the forces of Order!*
During your hero phase, nominate any enemy unit to be the victim of Sigmar's Wrath. On a roll of 2+, that unit takes D3 wounds, which may be saved as normal (on a roll of 1, Sigmar's attention is needed elsewhere, and nothing happens). If the nominated unit suffers at least one unsaved wound, it is forced back by the resounding blasts of electrical fury. The Order player chooses a direction the unit will be forced. The Chaos player immediately moves one model 3" in that direction. The Chaos unit then reforms around that model. The entire unit must be formed so that no model is closer to its original position than the first model moved, i.e. they all have to end up "behind that guy"! Note that this forced move may drive the enemy in ANY direction, including toward the enemy. If this move would bring the chaos unit into contact with an enemy unit, they stop 1” away from the nearest enemy model.

If Sigmar's Wrath is used, your general may still use the Inspiring Presence command ability, but no others this turn.

Creeping Chaos:
Sigmar has made many enemies in his quest for order. While in his realm particularly, their troops run as if the whips of their unholy masters were at their heels, desperate to drive Sigmar from his strongholds.

*This ability may only be used by the forces of Chaos!*
During your hero phase, nominate any single unit. This unit may immediately move D6 inches, but it must be TOWARD any enemy unit (this extra move cannot be used to retreat). As usual, this ability cannot cause a unit to end its move within 1" of an enemy unit. The rest of the turn is unaffected, and this unit may still move, run, shoot, and charge as normal!

Creeping Chaos may be used IN ADDITION to any command abilities your general normally has available, unless otherwise stated.

Unholy Zeal: When they sense victory, the forces of Chaos redouble their efforts, out of sheer spite for weakness. There would be no sweeter victory in all the realms than to see Sigmar's armies broken on their own home ground.

*This ability may only be used by the forces of Chaos!*
During your hero phase, nominate a single unit that is already engaged in close combat, where your troops outnumber the enemy (calculated by total wounds remaining on each side). The combat for this unit is fought immediately, during the hero phase. Resolve combat as normal, including battle shock.

The rest of the turn proceeds as normal. Note that this means that if the Chaos unit wiped out its enemy, it may move, shoot, charge, and fight as normal! Even if it does not, Unholy Zeal will allow you to fight this combat twice in a single turn!
If Unholy Zeal is used, your general MAY NOT use any other command abilities this turn, as he is busy invoking the aid of the Ruinous Powers.

Settra the Imperishable

Settra the Imperishable, Khemrikhara, Mighty Lion of the Infinite Desert, He Who Holds the Sceptre, Great Hawk of the Heavens, and so Settra's many, many titles go on, and on...

I could go on about Settra's story, but it involves about 3,000 years of events leading up to the end-times. To bullet-point some of his most significant deeds:

• united warring city-states of Nehekhara under the single banner of Khemri
• started the Mortuary Cult to win his final conquest over death
• was ressurected after several generations to reclaim Khemri from usurper Nagash
• ressurected other kings as sentinels to Khemri while he campaigned across the world
• battled with Nagash time and time again
• spanked Arkhan the Black a couple of times
• Nagash left his skull in the sand for centuries to stare at the ruins of his capital
• double-crossed Chaos Gods who ressurected him for the purpose of killing Nagash
• after Nagash devoured the Khmerian God of Death, Settra told Nagash what he could do with himself after being offered the position of Nagash's Mortrarch

No matter how bad he despised Nagash, in the end Settra was ressurected and sent to kill Nagash, but instead Settra killed the Bloodthirster Nagash was battling. Settra raised his giant middle finger to Nagash (it is said his middle finger is as long as his beard!) and stormed off into the rising tide of Chaos. That was the last anybody saw of him.

It is rumored that Settra could be Celestant-Prime, but I don't think so. Settra refused to serve Chaos to kill Nagash, why would he serve Sigmar to kill Chaos or even Nagash? Settra does not serve. Settra rules (His last words). It's great fluff to speculate, but seeing how Games Workshop just announced the discontinuation of the Tomb Kings, I think Settra may finally be put to rest permanently. On to the model!

This was a really fun and challenging model to build. It is cast from resin, a material I hadn't worked with. The pieces have to be superglued together because normal plastic model glue doesn't work. I found a lot of pieces kept breaking off. His right arm I had to pin to his body just for extra support.

I had the most fun coming up with the color scheme and painting the front and sides of the chariot. I wanted to do something different with the base of the chariot instead of just drab wood. I originally painted it black and did a wash and outline detail with Nihilakh Oxide and dulled it with a thin layer of Nuln Oil. The effect was cool looking, but it didn't really go with the reds, blues, and golds with the rest of the theme, so I just went plain black to allow those colors to stand out.

The horses are pinned down at the hooves for stability, as are the chariot wheels. 

The arm attached the harness to the chariot was a little wonky. It doesn't attach to the chariot very well, and the cast wasn't flush with the chariot, so I had to do some precision sculpting and pinning there too.

I put some Blood for the Blood God on the "Leg Choppers" as Chaos Joe called them (Leg Choppas if he was Ork Joe) for the lulz. I opted not to put Settra's cape on because it didn't fit well and his weapon got in the way. The only cool thing I miss about it is that it was covered in scarabs.

 And finally, I had to carve some little platform shoes for Settra to angle him more upright in the chariot. Otherwise, his Blessed Blade of Ptra was digging into a horse's undercarriage. Yep, Settra needed a booster seat.

The base is a 5" x 6" custom made by my friend Alex at Eldritch Entertainment. I wanted a round base for him, but it need to be wide enough for the row of 4 horses across the front and long enough for the chariot in the back. Here I mix some black ink paint from Vallejo into some Elmer's wood filler and spread it with a popsicle stick.

The ink wasn't giving the color effect I wanted, so I spray primed it black and carved some wheel treads before it dried. I gave this a good 24 hours to dry and solidify before priming.

And finally, I painted Agrellan Earth to give the crackled effect. I tried doing a mix of sand but hated how it looked, so I scraped as much sand as I could and did the rest with the Agrellan Earth. By the way, I tried other crackle products, and Citadel's Agrellan Earth is the only one that worked.

I have to say this is my first "real model," and I'm quite please with it. He's sort of the flagship for my army. If you can find a Settra kit I highly recommend getting it. I'd love to hear some constructive criticism or any hints or tricks I can use moving forward with modeling. Thanks for reading!

Age of Sigmar League Week 1 & 2

Large turn out at the Warhammer store on Saturday

I've recently joined our local Warhammer Store's Age of Sigmar league. Last I saw there were around 21 or so participants, and last Saturday there was a tremendous turn-out for the first scenario of skirmishes. Just for some background the setting is the Realm of Heaven, Azyr. There is a terrain objective in the center where we need to have the most units within 3" of the terrain at the end of round 6, or have at least one unit within 3" of the terrain and table our opponent(s).

Saturday I played two games. The first was a little unbalanced in my favor. My opponent and I were playing with 3 warscrolls; my Necropolis Knights paired with a Liche Priest were pretty tough. It was my first time playing with them, and I'm quite pleased at their ability. I think the game would have been more balanced if I had played with skeleton archers along with my warriors and priest. Even though I still have the ressurection and summoning ability, it would have been a fun brawl over the objective.

The second game was a 4 player FFA with the same scenario. I managed a minor victory (shared victory). The same Necropolis Knights managed to take down a skulltaker, but the Knights eventually fell to the 30 - I want to say they were bloodletters, backing the skulltaker. My warriors were locked in combat with ranged skinks for pretty much the entire game. I did manage to get some units to the objective by the end of round 6 though.

My WIP Necropolis Knights held together by Poster Tack vs Skulltaker and Co.

Anyway, I did a little creative writing based around the events of the first game. I hope to continue the story as the league progresses through the next few months and perhaps create an identity and purpose for my Tomb Kings army in this new Age of Sigmar. Enjoy!

“Zyrdax,” the whisper called. In life he was called Sebek-tetu, but in this perversion of death his soul was called Zyrdax. The liche opened his eyes ready to survey the field and begin his spells. On his left a unit of skeleton warriors shambled into a line. Except for pieces of broken bronze armor and shredded chain jangling against bone, the warriors were deathly silent. They were steeled against the coming battle and unwavering against a fate in which they were already familiar. Pain was something long forgotten.

A group of stone cobras slithered to Zyrdax's right. Once large statues, the cobras were animated through dark magic similar to golem creation that Sebek-tetu had learned from the Masters in the City of Priests. Mummified knights balanced fastidiously atop the cobras' hoods. From eons of decay they were now more bone than wrapping. These knights were trained to harness and control the stone contructs as great weapons of war. A knight sounded a single, flat tone on his trumpet, and the captain's serpent swaggered and hissed to indicate their battle readiness.

Zyrdax scanned the horizon. This was not the familiar sands of Nehekhara. How many centuries had it been? Who was the voice behind the whisper? It was not the voice of his king, nor was it the voice of one of his gods. The landscape was as unfamiliar as the voice that had awoken them. They were at the edge of a large crater and near the center were arcane ruins leading to a stairway up a Dragonfate Dais. While the arcane ruins lay dormant the Dais pulsated with power.

Beyond the Dais against the horizon mobs of riotous green figures loomed ever closer as they advanced. Zyrdax focused his eyes to the distance and could make out two groups of Orruks. A small figure with a skull helmet and scepter stood between the groups directing the army. Their grunts and taunts began to be audible as they made their way closer to the Dais.

Zyrdax knew he had to fight to survive, but he hesitated as he did not understand his place. He was summoned from death to command this force but not by his king nor his gods. He had no authority to carry out this battle nor was he authorized to even exist. Zyrdax glanced wide eyed at his forces, for he had not summoned them into existence either.

“The Dais,” the whisper called again, and Zyrdax sneered at this imposter in his mind. He looked at the Dais and sensed the power emanating from it. He saw the Orruks advancing closer and could sense a source of Chaotic magic in their unnatural movements. Zyrdax looked into the sky as if trying to see into the heavens.

“Yes,” the voice reassured him. He was to protect the Dais from the Orruks. Finally, something Zyrdax could understand, and he ordered the advance. He was a veteran of war for centuries as a Liche. He was a skilled tactician and commanded several major battles. Capture and hold was something familiar to him and his instinct was to proceed, but he was unclear for whom he was fighting. He deduced that if the Orruk forces were guided by Chaos, then the voice that summoned him must be an influence of Order.

Zyrdax stopped suddenly and was compelled to point at the Orruk Shaman. The sky opened and a bolt struck near the Shaman sending him tumbling backward. Zyrdax knew then that he was being aided by a god. It didn't make sense why he was chosen for this task, but the last he knew of their king is that he aided in the fight against the forces of Chaos in those Final Days. Perhaps that was a good enough reason to fight now. The Orruks were now in clear view and Zyrdax stared at them in contempt. Enough of this doubt and lack of clarity; he advanced with clear purpose.

The warriors and knights read the thoughts of their priest and advanced. The warriors moved to secure the Dais from a flanking Orruk army while the knights charged into the heavier clad Orruk forces. Zyrdax conjured more serpent golems to bolster the charging statues with more knights. The warriors' standard bearer would do his job of reanimating the fallen against the flanking force and hold the Dais.

The stone serpents crashed into the armored Orruks and bit with frenzied venomous fangs. The knights atop the fray slashed through the armor with heavy spears. The Orruks, in disarray, tried to muster a counterstrike that was mostly ineffective, and a few toward the rear of the mob howled in terror and abandoned the clash.

The warriors did their part to hold the Dais while the knights slithered in to mop up the remaining Orruk forces. Zyrdax continue to discharge bolts toward the enemy Shaman keeping him largely ineffective for the duration of the battle. In the end, Zyrdax learned that the Dais was merely a decoy, a distraction for a greater power to devote unnecessary resources. It made Zyrdax angry that he must also be deemed an unnecessary resource to the power that he had just served. This cosmic chess match gave Zyrdax insight to why his king would not participate in such games with greater powers, his king would not serve. On the other hand, Zyrdax secretly hoped that his victory gained him some favor with this new Power.