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Here Come the Rats Again...AGAIN!!!
Upon reaching Luthor Harkon's fleet, Gotred Onjur was able to slink aboard a ship commanded by a Vampire Lord, Friedrich Carzon. The ship set sail as part of a vanguard flotilla ahead of the main fleet, but upon approaching Zandri in the Land of the Dead was blown off course and crashed just north of the now ruined town of Aznio in the realm of Tilea. To make matters worse, Estalia and Tilea had become overrun with Skaven.
Gotred had no choice but to concur with Carzon's decision to break through any Skaven forces as quickly as possible and try to reach Sylvania with the forces they had at hand that had survived the crash. Gotred had access to other skills and magics besides Necromancy, and was able to construct a Corpse Cart from the wreckage of the ship, and an abandoned cart was converted into a Black Coach. The nearby town of Aznio was strewn with corpses, which were animated into skeletons and zombies, and a prowling pack of Crypt Ghouls also joined their forces.
Having assembled a sizable entourage, Carzon led his forces inland and northwards. At first, their was little sign of any opposition, but on the third night of travelling, a large force of Skaven interrupted their progress.
The Forces
Vampire Counts
Friedrich Carzon (General) - Vampire Lord mounted on a Nightmare (Level 1 Lore of Vampires)
Dietmar Rabanov - Vampire mounted on a Nightmare (Level 2 Lore of Death)
10 Black Knights with full command and a Banner of Eternal Flame
Gotred Onjur - Master Necromancer with a Black Periapt (Level 4 Lore of Vampires)
30 Zombies with standard bearer and musician
20 Skeleton Warriors with full command
20 Crypt Ghouls led by a Crypt Ghast
Two packs of 5 Dire Wolves
2 Fell Bats
Spirit Host
Corpse Cart
Black Coach
Skaven
Warlord on a War-Litter (General)
Gey Seer
Chieftain with battle standard
Warlock Engineer with a Doomrocket
Assassin (hiding in the clanrats unit with the swords and shields)
34 Stormvermin
Poisoned Wind Mortar
20 Clanrats with sword and shield
Warpfire Thrower
20 Clanrats with spears
Poisoned Wind Mortar
6 Gutter Runners
Doomwheel
2 Warp Lightning Cannons
The Battle
Things started well for the Vampire Counts. Rabanov slew the Grey Seer with a single death spell before he could utter a syllable in response. The Skaven responded by unleashing their fire-power, demonstrating typical Skaven accuracy. A Warp Lightning Cannon and a Poisoned Wind Mortar exploded.The Doomrocket overshot slightly, only managing to obliterate nine of Gotred's Zombies. The Gutter Runners managed to slay four Dire Wolves. The second pack was wiped out when the Doomwheel charged into them.
Carzon led his Black Knights in a charge against the Doomwheel, hoping to quickly smash it and overrun out of range of the Stormvermin horde. Unfortunately, the Crypt Ghouls and even a newly raised unit of Zombies failed to slow the Stormvermin down. However, this manoeuvre had played into Gotred's hands, buying him time to hold off the advancing Clanrats. The Black Coach had already gained sufficient power to fly ethereally around the Skaven, smashing the Gutter Runners and running around the rear of the Skaven army to threaten the remaining Warp Lightning Cannon. Gotred in the meantime effectively used Gaze of Nagash to slay the Warpfire Thrower and send the Clanrats and Assassin running, though not before they had wiped out the Skeleton Warriors.
The Stormvermin charged into the rear of the Black Knights. The Vampires managed to take down a handful of Stormvermin, but were inevitably overrun. Gotred was able to prevent the undead from taking severe losses from the loss of their General and hold what was left of the army together.
The Stormvermin made an attempt to return to the centre of the battlefield to deal with the Master Necromancer but were just too far away to be effective. The Warlord left his unit to attempt to intercept the Black Coach. The Black Coach was able to outmanoeuvre the Warlord (and the Poisoned Wind Mortar, which was futilely attempting to block its charge) and smashed into the Warp Lightning Cannon, destroying it utterly.
Gotred was able able to stave off total defeat by finally raising a large mass of Zombies to block the remaining Clanrats. This final spell was at extreme risk, causing a Dimensional Cascade, which he was fortunate to survive, and only destroyed five of his Zombies.
Aftermath
Gotred was able to escape from Tilea and eventually found his way to the borders of Sylvania, only to find that someone had surrounded the realm with a wall of bones. Oh well, maybe he could hitch a lift in the Black Coach and fly over the top of it.
Victory Points
Vampire Counts - 863 pts
Skaven - 1,510 pts
