THE GREAT REBELLION: Part 3

Annihilate this Eden now

Blasphemy gives birth to divine

-Be Without Fear, by Behemoth

Part 1 of the Battle Report HERE. 
Part 2 of the Battle Report HERE.
Part 3 of the Battle Report HERE.

All the awesome terrain for this battle provided by Blueforge Terrain.

I can feel my talons sink into the earth; behind me, the aether flows as a molten lunar ocean.  It surges across the cracked flagstones, and to my second-sight, they glitter like emeralds in the fiery spume.  This place is the rot of Eden; its air is golden wine.  I breathe deep.

Hail the ever-changing Serpent!  Hail the bloodied Lion!  The warp is my endlessly descending oubliette.  Its impermanence makes all my efforts meaningless.  But here, amongst this plague of mortals, I am infused with vigor.

Across the drift of crooked alleys, slumping rooftops and shadowed hovels, I behold in my second-sight the golden halo blazing about the head of the Enemy.  It is so brilliant that it causes me pain.  Even the foolish mortal beings mewling beneath me must be able to perceive it at some level.

Sigmar. The hand of the Enemy at work.  I owe my long banishment to him.  I spread my wings and ready my blade.  Magnus.  His puppet.  Such wrath I shall visit upon him that the very firmament will shake with terror.

I can feel the dream-nexus swirl about me; I perceive its raging, reality-shattering breath as a hurricane of gemstone fire.  Here, at this juncture, fate is unravelling.  Now is our chance to change things.  To make everything right.

So let it be written; so let it be done.




Welcome to part three of the mega-battle THE GREAT REBELLION!  The Holy Army of Magnus is decimating the West and East flank, though the center holds strong for the Great Rebellion.  The implored calls of the wretches forming the chaos force have been answered and Ardan St. Cygnus - greater daemon of wrath has emerged from the aether to aid them.  But will it be enough?

With the greater daemon emerged on the West flank behind the brawl between Magnus' retinue and that of the Great Hoodoo.  This presented the Great Rebellion with a difficult choice: Magnus was smashing his way through the West flank, bearing down on the Great Hoodoo.  The aid of the greater daemon would tip the scales drastically in the Great Rebellion's favor, but it would leave the Nightmare Engine on the East flank unopposed.

Ardan St. Cygnus is a giant monster (as defined in the Serene Annihilation Rules) and has a profile commensurate with that of a Warhammer Fantasy 5th Edition greater daemon.  He is also a Wraith-Type character which means he must expend a point of Presence at the end of every round of combat.  If he has no Presence to expend, he will disappear unless he can roll a 5+ on a D6.  Ardan starts with 8 Presence points.

With no debate, the Great Rebellion sent Ardan rushing forward toward the West flank.  The daemon smashed his way through a gangplank, sending the (friendly) Averlander archer plummeting to the ground!  Fortunately, he was only stunned.

In the shadow of the greater daemon, the Great Hoodoo is finally cornered by the Warrior Priest Jasper Blackthorne.  With his entire bodyguard already in combat, the Great Hoodoo is forced to fight the towering Warrior Priest alone.  Howerer, thanks to managing to cast Scabrous Hide, the Jasper is unable to wound the wily Carnival Master.

Holy Army of Magnus turn five.  Fearlessly, the three Stormcast Eternals move to protect Magnus and charge Ardan St. Cygnus.  Their hammer blows rain down upon his iron hide.  His otherworldly protection proves invaluable as he suffers only one wound against the sigmarite hammers.

Then with a storm of sword strikes (and excellent dice rolls!), the greater daemon strikes down all three Stormcast Eternals!  But due to his Wraith-Type rules, his Presence is reduced to 7.

In the center, the Beast and the Sergeant continue the slaughter of the militia.  Fat Bastard the ogre, caught in the open is blown to pieces by the the Nightmare Engine.

On the East flank, Scarecrow the Pumpkinhead and The Fly struggle against three warhounds and an oncoming Stormcast Eternal.  Scarecrow pulls through, but the long fight has been draining on him and he is down to 2 Presence points.

Scarecrow the Pumpkinhead, like Ardan, is a Wraith-Type which means he too must burn a Presence point at the end of every round of combat or disappear unless he can roll a 5+ on a D6.  Scarecrow started with 5 Presence points.

Nearby, the Pig-God finally tires of struggling pointlessly against the Plague Cart and leaves combat.  The Gallows-Horse remains and manages to knock it down to one wound.

Great Rebellion turn seven.  On the West flank, unable to cast Scabrous Hide, the Great Hoodoo is struck down by Warrior Priest Jasper Blackthorne's skull-hammer and is stunned.  Nearby, Reaver Finntroll tears down a Flagellant - then eats him! - in his ferocity to aid the embattled leader of The Great Rebellion.

Reavers are S4, T4 heroes available to any warband.  They are cannibalistic and gain frenzy on a D6 roll of 4+ after taking an enemy out of action.  This is the same as the Bloodgreed rule for beastman minotaurs.

The tables are turned as it is now Magnus the Pious who finds himself alone and unsupported as the enemy bears down upon him!  Going for the throat of the Holy Army, Ardan St. Cygnus charges Magnus.

Ardan opts to use whirlwind to draw in two additional witch hunters nearby.  Magnus's special rules halve the daemon's initiative to 4, allowing him to strike first.  Two of his hammer-blows manage to bypass the greater daemon's defenses and wound him, reducing him to 3 wounds.

Ardan's sword descends with all the fury of meteor strikes and, in a flurry of excellent dice rolls, manages to inflict no less than 8 wounds upon Magnus!  The champion of Sigmar and humanity expends his Presence, but fails to counter any of them.  The skies darken then are cut apart by the fiery, silver trails of countless falling stars as the tears of heaven spill forth - Magnus falls!  Continuing to display the favor of the Dark Gods, Ardan also strikes down one of the witch hunters in combat with him.  Owing to his Wraith-Type rules, his Presence is reduced to 6.

Ardan St. Cygnus has a rule called Annihilator Prime which allows him to inflict an unlimited number of critical hits per turn - this allowed him to inflict 8 wounds despite directing only 4 attacks against Magnus.  His ...like Starlight through Stained Glass rule allows him to roll D10's instead of D6's when rolling to hit or wound, increasing his odds of causing a critical to 50% - still, very lucky dice rolls.

Nearby, the Reaver Finntroll charges the Warrior Priest Jasper Blackthorne, but is unable to overcome his 2+ save granted by Armor of Righteousness.  Jasper's return strikes also prove ineffective.

In the center, Hawke the Sorceress climbs the ruins, but fails to cast Fires of U'Zhul.

On the far West flank, the battle of the small fry continues with The Fly and the monkeys being unable to wound each other.

Holy Army turn seven.  On the West flank the flagellants strike down Pinhead taking him out of action.  The Reaver Finntroll and Warrior Priest Jasper Blackthorne continue to spar ineffectively.

On the East flank: finally, after several turns of fighting, the Gallows-Horse destroys the Plague Cart.

Great Rebellion turn eight.  Dark God's Favor is drawn and from the South table edge on the East flank emerges Uncle Krampus!  Christmas comes early!  He is immediately intercepted by a Stormcast Eternal.

On the West flank: howling with rage, Finntroll the Reaver throws himself at the Warrior Priest Jasper Blackthorne and finally slays him!  The Great Hoodoo stands up just in time to gloat over the corpse.

Ardan flies into position to charge the Nightmare Engine, but is intercepted by the Pig-God.

Giant Monsters cannot be intercepted by normal models, they just barge their way through.  However, they can be intercepted by other Monsters or Giant Monsters.

The Pig-God fights valiantly.  Ardan's Initiative 8 gives him a huge advantage and without the ability to cut it down as Magnus could, the Pig-God is struck down before he can strike back.  Ardan's Wraith-Type rule costs him another Presence point, reducing him to 5.

On the West flank Hawke the Sorceress unleashes Fire of U'Zhul against the Nightmare Engine.  This time her dice are hot and she manages to wound the huge, animated idol and bring it down to 5 wounds.  Behind her, Ardan moves into position to challenge the Nightmare Engine.

Displaying incredible bravery - or perhaps suicidal recklessness - Sister Prudence flings herself into the path of the rampaging greater daemon hoping to further drain his Presence points.

Prudence does not stand a chance against Ardan and is pulverized, but perhaps her sacrifice will not be in vain as Ardan's Presence falls to 4.

Sick of her insolence, the Nightmare Engine blasts Hawke the Sorceress in half.  In combat, the Nightmare Engine stomps a Plaguebearer to death, leaving only one left.

Great Rebellion turn nine.  West flank: realizing the Holy Army's strategy, Scarecrow the Pumpkinhead and the last Plaguebearer charge the Gallows-Horse to prevent him from intercepting Ardan and further draining his Presence.

The Stormcast Eternal manages to wound Uncle Krampus before the monster strikes him down, despite his heavy armor.

Finally, Ardan charges the Nightmare Engine and the two colossi square off.  Ardan strikes first, but does not roll well and inflicts only 3 wounds.  The Nightmare Engine attacks back and inflicts one wound on Ardan, reducing him to 2.  At the end of combat, Ardan burns another Presence point because of his Wraith-Type rule reducing him to 3.

Holy Army turn nine.  The Plaguebearer manages to wound the Gallows-Horse, bringing him down to 2.  Scarecrow the Pumpkinhead misses with his attacks.  Then, because he is out of Presence he has to test to see if he disappears.  The die comes up a 2 and Scarecrow vanishes out of existence in a gust of smoke.

The Nightmare Engine opens fire on Ardan, but only rolls 5 shots.  Three hit, but the greater daemon's wards remain strong and no wounds are caused.

Giant monsters may fire even if they are in combat.

Combat phase and the titans trade blows once again.  Ardan goes first and this time the dice are hot; he inflicts seven wounds on the Nightmare Engine!  The Nightmare Engine burns Presence to try to deflect them, but fails.  The Nightmare Engine crumbles to the ground; atop its smoldering corpse, Ardan roars his rage to the black firmament - Victory for the Great Rebellion!