Dragon9's Campaign: The Battle for Grand Cathay (1st turn)

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Dragon9's Campaign: The Battle for Grand Cathay (1st turn)

Post by Dragon9 »

Someone at my local GW started a narrative campaign. I thought, what better than to start a thread in the BatRep forum to annoy everyo... I mean entertain everyone with what goes on. Basically, there's players each representing the armies except for Demons, WoC, and Beastmen who are GM lackeys. We had to write up a 3000 point list that would have everything we could ever use. Any lists we make int he campaign can only be comprised of units from that list. So if I have 20 Executioners I can take 20 in a list. Or 10. Or two units of ten (although only one command ground to go between the two). Etc. This made it tricky since you wanted to have flexibility and options. Then we had to do a short write up on our General and how they came to power and why they're headed to Cathay. So, I thought I would give a link to the Cathayan map from the Cathay army book. And here's my 3000 point list:

Loreth (Dreadlord): General, Manticore (Iron Hard Skin), Sword of Might, Dawnstone, Cloak of Twilight, HA, RXB, Shield, SDC. Also we got to choose a trait for our General. I chose Strong, so he's +1 Str.

Sinaria (Sup. Sorc): Sac Dagger, Ring of Hotek, lvl 4.
Dominara (Sorc): lvl 1, Dispel Scroll
Sadina (Sorc): Lvl 1
Aerinelle (Death Hag): Obsidian Blade, Witchbrew
Drennar (Master): BSB, Relic Sword, Armor of Fortune, RXB, SDC.

2x 5 Dark Riders with Musician, RXB, Shield
21 Corsairs, FC, XHW
20 Darkshards, FC, Shields, Banner of Eternal Flame
Golyat the War Hydra
21 Executioners (yes, I finally got some!)
5 Warlocks w/ Master
3x Reapers
Bloodwrack Shrine
Last edited by Dragon9 on Mon May 26, 2014 4:46 am, edited 3 times in total.
"The dark elves have everything cool. They are pirate blood cultist ninjas riding dinosaurs and flinging magic. They're metal. They're the most metal race out there, rivaled only by Warriors of Chaos. They bring a cauldron of boiling blood onto the battlefield. You don't get much more metal than that." -- Mostlyharmless on Warseer

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Re: Dragon9's Narrative Campaign: The Battle for Grand Catha

Post by Dragon9 »

My General's Background:

Loreth came from a prominent family in Naggarond. His father a successful general in Malekith's forces. He has 3 sisters, Sinaria, Dominara, and Sadina who were given over to learn the ways of sorcery. Loreth rose in the ranks with his father's tutelage who taught him to be ruthless, aggressive, and treacherous... not just on the battlefield, but in politics and negotiations as well. During this time, he maintained close ties to his sisters, often employing their aid in battle. He used his learning to forge ties among the major divisions of the Naggarothi martial disciplines, earning cooperation from the temple of Khaine, the Beastmasters and others. He even managed to take a Bride of Khaine as a lover without getting disemboweled: Aerinelle. This is where his trouble started. The Brides of Khaine are meant for Khaine and Khaine alone. For this his father disowned him. Cast out, he enlisted his sisters and other ties to help him raise an army. Despite his father's clout, he managed to raise a force and left Naggarond on a Black Ark to seek fortune to return to Naggarond one day and take down his father and control his family's house.
"The dark elves have everything cool. They are pirate blood cultist ninjas riding dinosaurs and flinging magic. They're metal. They're the most metal race out there, rivaled only by Warriors of Chaos. They bring a cauldron of boiling blood onto the battlefield. You don't get much more metal than that." -- Mostlyharmless on Warseer

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Re: Dragon9's Narrative Campaign: The Battle for Grand Catha

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SO the gist of the campaign is: an agent of Chaos has infiltrated the Dragon Emperor's household as his closest adviser and betrayed him, putting into a magical coma. He has returned to the Red Mansion and cast out the influence of Khorne in favor of Tzeentch, renaming the Mansion the Palace of Eyes. The combined forces of Chaos have breached the Great Bastion and have begun invading Cathay. Cathay has pulled most of their southern forces north to do battle and protect the palace. This was my first communique:


Game Turn 1 (Location: Far Sea):

Loreth -

The voice spoke to you soothlingly, "Loreth, dark and fair, strong and cunning, heed my words... to Grand Cathay you must go... for with the power of the Celestial Dragons lies your path to ascension." It had been some months since the strange voice had begun speaking to you. At first, you thought it just your imagination, merely a dream, but when it returned the second night... then the third... then the fourth... you knew that it was something more.

At first you thought it to be a trap, some sorcery meant to manipulate your mind and guide you down a path of destruction. But the more the voice returned, the more the voice became comforting, convincing, and very promising. Soon, you found yourself wondering if these "Celestial Dragons" really existed. Consulting with the scholars aboard your Black Ark led to your interest being piqued even further. Some Elven tomes spoke of the lands of Grand Cathay, and your scholars knew that your hated Asur cousins maintained some sort of trade relations with that empire. The tomes also spoke of grand amounts of wealth that these Cathayans possessed, and how no Elf had ever set foot past a port city known as Fu Chow. It seemed that this land offered endless potential for your purposes: wealth, human slaves, perhaps even dragons... if the voice was to be believed. Perhaps this really would be a way for you to rise to power, and ultimately return to Naggarond to deal with your foolish father.

So it was that you took your Black Ark to the west, across the Far Sea and toward the lands known as Grand Cathay. The eastern coastlines of this county were known to the Druchii. Long had Dark Elven corsairs tried to plunder coastal villages here, and some bold commanders had even attempted to besiege the city of Fu Chow itself. You knew that trying to fight against the fabled "Turtle Ships" of the Cathayans was a lost cause. None of these aforementioned raids had ever succeeded in accomplishing anything other than the deaths of many of your people. No... stealth would have to be your gateway to this land, and as much as you would have liked to smash the turtle ships asunder, you could not let your pride get in the way of finding a way to make landfall successfully.

Speaking in length with your beloved sisters, whose powers in manipulating the winds of magic were great, you devised a plan and began its execution in earnest. Your sisters weaved a great spell of Shadow magic which enshrouded your Black Ark from sight. Many blood sacrifices had to be made aboard your vessel to allow your sisters to manipulate the winds of magic to such a great extent, and one of your weaker sisters even fell dead during the ritual... her once beautiful body turned into a withered husk by the magical energies overwhelming her as she tried to control them. Despite all this, your plan has worked, and you are about to make landfall near a city marked on your ancient maps of Cathay as Lohai in a province known as Wei An.

As the shore comes into view, the voice whispers in your head again, "To the Kamalayan Mountains you must go... there your ascension will be realized..." It took the sight of the Cathayan defenders rushing to the beach to snap you back into reality. The time had come for your forces to take the beach, and these Human scum would not stand between you and your destiny being realized.

***Your Black Ark has successfully evaded the Cathayan naval patrols guarding the eastern coastline. Only the city of Lohai and its defenders stand between you and the heartlands of Grand Cathay. The Cathayans are mustering their paltry defense forces in an attempt to repel you from the beach, prepare for battle!***

EDIT: Just to give some info on other armies: The hated High Elves in Wei An and have made their way north (do I pursue them or do I sack Fu Chow? Hmmm...) and ran into Slaaneshi WoC. Tomb Kings and Empire, coming from the west, have both ended up in Wanbao and are duking it out. The Dwarfs headed south from their mountains into the Great Maw just to stick a thumb in the eye of the Ogres. OK went south out of the mountains to Shang Yang and ran into a group of partying O&G who had sacked the place. Vampire Counts moved up from the south running into the Skaven Pirate force in Ping Dong. Woodies moved east and ran into Beastmen.
"The dark elves have everything cool. They are pirate blood cultist ninjas riding dinosaurs and flinging magic. They're metal. They're the most metal race out there, rivaled only by Warriors of Chaos. They bring a cauldron of boiling blood onto the battlefield. You don't get much more metal than that." -- Mostlyharmless on Warseer

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Re: Dragon9's Narrative Campaign: The Battle for Grand Catha

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Re: Dragon9's Narrative Campaign: The Battle for Grand Catha

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Re: Dragon9's Narrative Campaign: The Battle for Grand Catha

Post by Dragon9 »

Well, I haven't had that first game yet. It'll be 1500 points as a beach landing, and I get an extra 1000 points in reserve. So basically 2500 DE vs. 1500 Cathayan Troops. Hoping to get the game in this weekend.
"The dark elves have everything cool. They are pirate blood cultist ninjas riding dinosaurs and flinging magic. They're metal. They're the most metal race out there, rivaled only by Warriors of Chaos. They bring a cauldron of boiling blood onto the battlefield. You don't get much more metal than that." -- Mostlyharmless on Warseer

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Re: Dragon9's Narrative Campaign: The Battle for Grand Catha

Post by Dragon9 »

Loreth gazed over the deck railing at the beach head before them. Theyhad slipped the blockade, but they couldn't keep the cloaking spell up for long after they passed. What may prove fortunate for them is the reports from his scouts that say forces of Nurgle had sacked Sumon at the tip of the peninsula to their back so the Cathayan Navy will likely be too busy to pay attention to the Black Ark that slipped past them.

This gave him a moment of smug self-satisfaction, having achieved something that many Druchii before him had not been able to do. Many Black fleets have attempted to raid Fu Chow, trading port and point of influence of the hated Asur, and all have been smashed against the hulls of the Cathayan turtle ships. The satisfaction only lasted a moment as while the Cathayan navy may be oblivious, the defenders at Lohai would spot their Ark long before landfall.

Beach landings were always precarious. The enemy knows you're coming and have the time to set up defenses. This would not be a time to be timid. All the slaves have been gathered together to push them forward to block their advance from the withering fire that would be coming their way. Even then it would take many bodies to secure the beach head. Already the longboats were headed to shore, the Druchii troops swarming to the shore. Using a spyglass, he could already see the Cathayans hurredly moving war machines into their positions.

His inspection was interrupted by Drenner. Drenner carried his banner into battle. He has met few as brave as him. "My lord, will you joining the battle today?" he asked as he made a picture perfect bow of deference.

"No, Drenner, not today. I wish to keep Vidal fresh for what is to come," he looked back behind him at the great cage that held his personal mount, flanked by beast tamers. A Manticore. This deck was a launching point on the ark for him and Vidal's cage was kept there. The great beast paced back and forth, seemingly knowing that there would be bloodshed soon. It thirsted for battle, but his time would come soon enough.

"What would you wish of me, lord?"

Loreth turned back to the scene before him. He lifted his spyglass again and gazed at a point to the north of the bulk of the forces. He pulled the spyglass down and pointed for Drenner to look and handed him the glass. "There, look. While the bulk of ou forces feint to the southern landing, I want you to take my sisters and Aerinelle and lead a force there. If we take that landing point, we can sweep around and catch the defenders from behind on the main beach."

Drenner nodded. "As you command, my lord. A sound plan."

"Then go, I need you there as quickly as possible."

Drenner bowed and and left, knowing he was being dismissed.

--------------------------------

"This is madness," said Sinaria, "What is my brother thinking?"

She sometimes wondered why she followed her brother. His tactics often made her shake her head. The bulk of the forces were landing south from their position. She was with her two other sisters and the Death Hag her brother took as a consort. She was one of the reasons she was here now instead of living in luxury in Naggarond with slaves at her beck and call.

She looked around. Her sisters were on a different long ship. She was stuck with Aerinelle, the Hag, on this ship and the contingent of corsairs she was to lead. She was currently passing around her goblet having them drink of the foul Witchbrew that would drive them into a frenzy. Already she could see the men starting to get twitchy and wild eyed. She even gave a drink to the blasted Medusa sitting atop the shrine.

She looked back to the group of darkshards she commanded. No, not just them. With her brother on the Ark still, command fell to her. It's not the first time she has commanded forces in battle, but never under these conditions. She stepped onto a crate to gaze over the edge at the other landing ships moving to shore. She could see the heads of Golyat, the war hydra above the walls of one ship. The handlers seemed to be having problems keeping the beast calm on the water. Another ship she saw spear tips above the walls. The Dark Riders, waiting for land fall. A couple other ships she knew bore their contingent of executioners and her two sisters as well as Drenner.

She looked forward and saw that they would landing soon. She stepped down off the crate and prepared her troops. Her brother was sending them into what she believed to be a meat grinder. The beach consisted of a watchtower with a few smaller surrounding buildings and a defensible wall. The Cathayans had set up ballistae and a cannon to the south of the tower, and another ballista and some other contraption to the north. There was a large retinue of troops with pole-arms behind the wall and crossbows could be seen in the windows of the tower. Along the southern stretch of wall stood four large animate statues that looked like a cross between a lion and a dog.

"Ready!" She bellowed to those who could hear her. Within a few heartbeats of her alarm the ship lurched as it hit beach. An attendant pulled a rope and the front of the ship dropped down. With a great cry they began to storm the beach.

-------------------------------------

Loreth watched as his troops made landfall at the northern beach. Already he could see his sister gathering her Darkshards to her. Next to her int he center of the line his lover, Aerinelle gathered the corsairs with the Bloodwrack Shrine in their midst. To the left of them was the first unit of Dark Riders. He could also see crews hastily assembling two Reapers on each flank. The rest had not landed yet. He hoped this force would be able to take the fight to the enemy before reinforcements arrived.

--------------------------------------

As the Druchii forces landed the Cathayan defenders began to rain death down upon them. Sinaria didn't recognize the war machine to the north, but she would not forget it in the furute as she watched the crew bring a flaming brand to the back and suddenly a hail of arrows rained down on her unit. Withering ballista fire cut down more of her troops. That's the time that she felt it. The winds of magic were being manipulated. She began concentrating to attempt to dispel whatever sorceries these humans could muster but as she did she felt the winds gathering more and more. The human wizard was trying to control too much at once.

A great flash and explosion rocked the tower, bodies flung out of the windows as the magical power was unleashed. She could feel the mind of the human wizard as it suddenly vanished. She smirked. Serves him right.

She moved what remained of her forces forward. They moved several meters ahead and drove their shields into the sand and knelt behind them to gain cover as they began firing their repeating crossbows at the enemy. She looked down the line to see three of the Dark Riders cut down by the war machines.

A loud report signaled the firing of cannon and she watched as the shot took two wheels off the Bloodwrack Shrine. The handlers worked to keep the Medusa in check, knowing they weren't going anywhere.

Aerinelle pushed her corsairs forward despite the loss of the Shrine, running up the beach as fast as they could. The lion statues lept the wall and ran into their midst. Aerinelle used her sword and cut down one of the statues itself, raining blow after blow upon it. The other three statues crashed into her forces who slashed away at them mercilessly, damaging one as they crushed several corsairs beneath their feet. The press of the frenzied corsairs was too much and the drove the statues back, running them down and destroying them.

Sinaria watched as they continued their press forward toward the tower. She wove the winds of magic and unleashed a mighty vortex of pure darkness at the human troops. She watched as several of them were sucked into the darkness, never to be seen again. However, even she herself felt the winds gathering to strongly to her. Before they overwhelmed her she released them, but the resulting shockwave knocked her off her feet and caused the death of one of her troops. The winds were being very fickle today.

She picked her self up and focused, causing the winds of magic to cut at the humans, felling a few more. She ordering her forces to shoot at the enemy warmachines but the bolts and Ballista fire landed harmlessly against the bulk of the machines. She felt herself shoved to the side as a whistling artillery shell landed near her unit. Looking up she saw that her unit, starting at 19 strong, was already taken down to just 10 bodies. The defensive fire from the humans was maddening. She looked down the lines and saw the Dark Riders running back toward the water. She began to worry, until she saw the corsairs, already so far ahead, charge the tower despite the hail of bolts coming from the windows.

-----------------------------------

Loreth surveyed the scene. So far it went about as well as he expected. The delay of half his forces bothered him, but he saw the long ships landing and releasing their troops onto the beach. Already the large menacing animated statues the Cathayans called "Fu Dogs" had been routed, and he was currently watching as Aerinelle and her most elite corsairs stormed the watchtower. As they entered he saw the defenders begin to writhe and twitch, many dropping their swords altogether. Moving his spyglass down he saw his sister Dominara casting a spell toward the tower. No doubt it was the one known as Word of Pain. It certainly did its job as the defenders proved completely unable to defend themselves against the corsairs and were butchered. The few remaining ran for their lives out the back door never to be heard form again.

His elation was short lived as he saw his Dark Riders and Warlocks falling to the heavy ballista fire. One group of Riders managed to weave a path through the fire and run down the crew of one machine. No sooner then they did that a cloud of grapeshot from the nearby cannon blasted them and their horses to bits. At least the war machine he had never seen nor heard of on the northern dune seemed to be having issues. The crew desperately trying to fix a misfiring issue.

-----------------------------------

Sinaria watched as the human troops reacted to the corsairs taking the tower. The human commander gave a signal and the troops reformed to face the tower and added more ranks to themselves. With their attention focused on the tower she shouted an order. The Reapers and the remaining crossbows fired at the unit. She added magic to the mix as well, casting Bladewind on the unit and topping it off with Soul Stealer for good measure. She watched as the unit was cut down and the commander and his strategist turned tail and ran.

Her Darkshards continued to fall to the defenders ballistic onslaught. A cannon ball sailed over her head to slam into the flank of the Hydra, knocking it across the beach like a rag doll. It would take time for the beast to regenerate from that. She felt this was as good a time as any to remove herself from her unit and join her sisters and Drenner who were moving with the executioners to take the southern weapon emplacements. She heard a great booming explosion from behind her and looked back to see the unknown war machine on the hill in a smoking ruin, apparently self inflicted.

As they moved she saw the corsairs burst from the building, running down the filthy human with the hand mortar and into the next building where two humans with some sort of rockets were holed up.

The group of Executioners charged the last southern ballista just as the last unit of Dark Riders was cut down. She felt her sister gather the winds of magic to cast Word of Pain on the war machine's crew and immediately sensed that she was pulling in too much. She tried to shout a warning but was too late. She saw a rift open up and watched as half their forces were sucked into it, but her sister managed to escape the same fate. Despite their depleted forces, the crew was unable to put up a fight and were cut down.

The remaining weapon crews cut and ran, not wanting to remain on the lost beach as more troops began landing behind the rampaging Druchii.

---------------------------------------

Loreth allowed himself to smile. It was a high cost, but now the troops landing behind them would be able to attack the southern defenses from behind. It was just a matter of time before the Lohai was his. He put the spyglass away and walked over to the cage. Vidal stopped pacing and gazed at Loreth, recognizing its master. Loreth reached forward and stroked the muzzle of the beast. "And now, my beautiful beast, we go to our destiny."

==================================================

So, in a nutshell, what I faced was a heavily defensible position with a lot of firepower. It was his 1500 pts. vs. my 2500, but man o man, did he give me a run for my money. He was rolling hot and I was rolling like crap. Again. And I even used different dice this time! What he had was 1 cannon, 3 rapid fire ballista, a Fire Arrow (which first turn got 30 hits on my Darkshards!), 4 Fu Dogs, 25 State Troops with pole axes and bows, and a unit of Chu No Ku which are repeating crossbows with only a 16" range and multi-shot 3. He had one Wu Jen which Cascaded first turn on three dice, a general and a Strategist.

It's what you would think a beach assault would be. Just like Normandy, heavy defensive position and a lot of firepower. My wiping of the Fu Dogs in the combat on his turn when he charges was fortunate as the I was able to charge the tower on my turn and didn't have to leave my Corsairs out in no man's land to get eaten alive by fire. They just zoomed across the beach. In the end I think I lost maybe 5 or 6 Corsairs total. Everything else got decimated. Well, the Executioners were my fault. :P Very fun game though against a fluffy enemy in a fluffy scenario. Tough but I got it despite my crappy, crappy rolls.
"The dark elves have everything cool. They are pirate blood cultist ninjas riding dinosaurs and flinging magic. They're metal. They're the most metal race out there, rivaled only by Warriors of Chaos. They bring a cauldron of boiling blood onto the battlefield. You don't get much more metal than that." -- Mostlyharmless on Warseer

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Re: Dragon9's Campaign: The Battle for Grand Cathay (1st tur

Post by Amboadine »

Nice write up and story. Congratulations on taking the beach, now a little time for some R&R before pushing onwards.
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Re: Dragon9's Campaign: The Battle for Grand Cathay (1st tur

Post by Dragon9 »

sadly, I haven't been posting to this. After this game was a 4-way Triumph and Treachery game between my DE, Empire, Demons of Slaanesh, and another Chaos force. I couldn't play in it, so someone filled in for me and he destroyed everyone else, letting them beat each other up and then coming in and mopping up. So in the next game I had +1S on my Manticore for it being well fed, and an army wide +1 Ld for the next game. So next game was vs. skaven in the Warpstone desert. this means all castings are done as if they used a Warpstone token. Special rule was there was a Grey seer trying to summon a Vermin Lord. He and his Gutter Runner guard would not participate in the battle, but I could kill them to stop the ritual.

No cover on the board, so right off the bat the warplightning cannon blasts the manticore from under my dreadlord, and I fail the 3+ Twilight Cloak ward and he takes a wound. It went from bad to worse from there. My first 3 rolls of the Warpstone Token die came up as 1, so I killed off one of my sorceresses by turn two and the other had 1 wound. Eventually the Supreme sorceress would succumb to the Tokens as well. My rolls were horrid all game. Even my opponent couldn't help but laugh at it. he even said my strategy was sound, my rolls were just horrible. When my Warlocks charged the ritual, they kille doff 5 Gutters, and took 6 wounds in return. I didn't make a single 4+ save. if I had made at least 2, I would have survived and likely ran them down. The next turn the vermin lord was summoned and killed off the rest of my corsairs. By the end of turn 5 I had one Bolt Thrower left.

So my next turn I will finally catch the High elves. they lost their last game too so we will be fighting on equal footing. If I had won, I would have had an advantage. Cest la vie.
"The dark elves have everything cool. They are pirate blood cultist ninjas riding dinosaurs and flinging magic. They're metal. They're the most metal race out there, rivaled only by Warriors of Chaos. They bring a cauldron of boiling blood onto the battlefield. You don't get much more metal than that." -- Mostlyharmless on Warseer

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