The fifth week of the campaign has delivered its most sweeping reshuffle. Seventy-five recorded engagements (from 250-point border patrols to 3,000-point grand hosts) have been entered into the campaign archives.
The Dark Elves remain at the summit, their overall ledger the envy of every rival, but the week's honours belonged emphatically elsewhere. The dead rose in terrible order: the Vampire Counts swept through five engagements without conceding a single draw or defeat. The hosts of Ulthuan came surging back into the upper reaches of contention: the High Elves executed the most spectacular single-week ascent in the campaign's history, leaping eight places in a single accounting. And the ancient legions of Nehekhara advanced with the patient inevitability of the grave. Against them, the sons of Hashut collapsed from the top three despite two local massacres of the Empire, the northern warbands were ground down in objective engagements against their oldest enemies, and the armies of the Empire endured twelve defeats in a single week from which the standings will not quickly recover.
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| Evolution of the meta this week. The Asrai have surprised everyone. |
- The Vampire Counts surged from #7 to #3 on the back of the campaign's only perfect major performance - five victories from five engagements, not a draw or defeat to sully the record.
- The High Elves executed the most spectacular single-week leap in the campaign's history, rising from #14 to #6 behind an unbeaten run of eight victories and a draw against Daemons, Dark Elves, Orcs & Goblins and Ogre Kingdoms alike.
- The Tomb Kings advanced from #9 to #7, their legions grinding through Bretonnian, Imperial and mercenary opposition with the patience that only eternity can teach.
- The Dogs of War bought themselves breathing room, climbing from #16 to #13 on the strength of three local massacres delivered against Orcs & Goblins and Chaos Dwarfs alike.
- Falling back: the Chaos Dwarfs collapsed from #3 to #8 - broken in three consecutive Night Raids by Strigoi_Marco's Vampire Counts and massacred twice by Tilean_Paymaster's mercenaries, despite delivering two dominant local massacres of their own. The Hordes of Chaos slipped from #6 to #10, blunted by High Elf spear and Dark Elf objective play. The Empire tumbled from #12 to #15 after twelve defeats in a single week. Bretonnia fell from #13 to #16, their lances shattered across five consecutive local engagements.
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| Global Scoreboard. The Vampire Counts sit on the Bronze through a flawless performance. The Druchii hold the top position even after a rough week. |
Archivist's Note: The Vampire Counts' performance is the week's defining text. Strigoi_Marco arrived in Karak Norn with a single target - Zambula's Chaos Dwarfs - and executed three consecutive Night Raid Solid Victories before adding two more on the satellite fronts. Five battles, five victories: the campaign's most efficient major week since the Dark Elves' ascension in Week 4. The High Elves' rise is the more dramatic headline: eight places in one accounting, driven above all by WhiteTower_HP's Sea Patrol, who turned three Breakthrough engagements against Archaon's Horde into a lesson that ended in Massacre. The week's most revealing footnote belongs to the Chaos Dwarfs: a faction that massacred the Empire twice locally, yet fell five places in the standings because the rest of its campaign week was an unrelenting catalogue of defeat. The campaign does not reward isolated brilliance. It rewards consistent volume.
Here is the master ledger of this week's tabletop advances.
II. Faction-Specific Tactical Engagements
- Agents of the Slann
- Beastmen
- Chaos Dwarfs
- Dark Elves
- Daemons
- Dogs of War
- Hordes of Chaos
- Lizardmen
- Ogre Kingdoms
- Orcs & Goblins
- Vampire Counts
- Defenders of the Relics
II.I Agents of the Slann
Beastmen
- Position: #17
- W/D/L: 5/2/12
The herd howls. The herd charges. One massacre does nothing for a faction that bleeds on every other front.
The brayherds found one moment of savage triumph in Karak Norn and paid a heavier price across the rest of the week.
• Ghorgon_Eric led the herd against Grail_Seeker's Bretonnia in a TOW 500-point Border Patrol fought under the Capture scenario. The brayherds fell upon the Bretonnian patrol before it could anchor its position and shattered it completely: Massacre.
• Bray_Shaman_Dave led the herd into Nehekhara_Pete's Tomb Kings in two 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battles. In the first engagement, the skeletal formations advanced with implacable discipline and drove the brayherds back: Minor Defeat. In the second, the herd and the dead ground each other to a halt across the full width of the field, neither side finding the decisive push: Draw.
• When Waaagh_Silvan's Orcs & Goblins met Ghorgon_Eric's Beastmen in a TOW 500-point Meeting Engagement, the greenskin tide did not give the herd time to organise its fury. The brayherd was overwhelmed entirely: Massacre.
On the satellite fronts, a single engagement was recorded.
• A 6th Edition Breakthrough against Dwarfs sent the herd into a stunted wall that refused to yield regardless of the fury hurled against it: Solid Defeat.
The brayherds hold seventeenth. One massacre, one draw, three defeats: the campaign has not yet found a use for the herd's rage at this scale of competition.
Chaos Dwarfs
- Position: #8
- W/D/L: 9/3/8
The furnaces roar. But no forge-fire can offset the arithmetic of three Night Raid defeats and two Massacre reversals in a single week.
Week 5 was the most contradictory the sons of Hashut have produced: commanding massacres against one opponent, catastrophic defeats at the hands of two others, and a slide from the top three that neither category of result could prevent.
In Karak Norn, Zharr_Naggrund_K delivered the week's most dominant local showing. Against Heldenhammer_ZH's Empire in a 6th Edition 500-point Meeting Engagement, the Dawi-Zharr war machine demolished the Imperial position entirely: Massacre. Against the same opponent in a TOW 3,000-point Pitched Battle, the furnaces spoke in full - Chaos Dwarf artillery and sorcery dismantled the Imperial grand host from one end of the field to the other: a second crushing Massacre. Two engagements, two absolute results, and enough for nothing in the final reckoning.
Then Strigoi_Marco came with the night.
• Zambula led his Chaos Dwarfs into three consecutive 6th Edition 500-point Night Raid Border Patrols against Strigoi_Marco's Vampire Counts. In the first, the undead moved with a speed and precision the darkness only amplified, overrunning the Dawi-Zharr patrol before it could establish its defensive line: Solid Defeat. In the second, the night belonged to the dead again - the forge-warriors bled for the same ground and lost it the same way: Solid Defeat. In the third, Zambula altered the formation, and the result did not change: Solid Defeat. Three Night Raids. Three Solid Defeats. The undead had found their formula against the sons of Hashut, and Hashut had no answer for it.
Then Hashut_Yannick brought a different kind of reckoning entirely.
• Against Tilean_Paymaster's Dogs of War in two 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battles, the mercenary pike blocks and artillery found the Dawi-Zharr formation and took it apart methodically. The first engagement ended in a catastrophic Massacre for the sons of Hashut. The second produced the identical result: a second Massacre, and a week's tally that required two separate columns to account for the losses.
On the satellite fronts, the damage continued.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against the Empire on the satellite fronts yielded a Solid Defeat - an opponent the Chaos Dwarfs had already massacred locally, beaten on a different front by a different Dawi-Zharr force.
• A TOW 500-point Meeting Engagement against Kislev on the satellite front produced another Solid Defeat, the Ice Queen's riders finding an edge the forge-warriors could not close.
From third to eighth in a single week. The Chaos Dwarfs remain capable of massacres. The question is whether they can produce them in sufficient volume to arrest what the standings have already begun to record.
Dark Elves
- Position: #1
- W/D/L: 16/5/4
The summit holds. Ulthuan's banners rise on the horizon, but the Black Arks have not yielded an inch of ground they did not first choose to give.
The Druchii remain seated atop the campaign pile, though Week 5 showed that even the masters of Naggaroth can bleed. Their local border patrols became a hard-edged duel of objectives against Archaon's northern warbands, while the satellite theatres added both fresh victories and a sharp reminder of the enduring enmity of Ulthuan.
In Karak Norn, Druchii_Steff fought three 6th Edition 500-point Border Patrols against Everchosen_ZH's Hordes of Chaos fielding Archaon's Horde, all under the Chosen Objective scenario. The northern warbands proved more stubborn than any opponent the Druchii have contested locally at this scale.
• In the first engagement, the Chaos formations outfought the Dark Elf patrol on the objective and denied the marker: Minor Defeat for the Druchii.
• In the second, the same scenario produced the same result. Archaon's warriors held the objective against every Dark Elf attempt to dislodge them: Minor Defeat.
• In the third, the Dark Elves found the approach that had eluded them twice and seized the objective under sustained pressure: Solid Victory.
On the satellite fronts, the raiding season produced mixed returns.
• A TOW 500-point Exterminate against Daemons saw the Druchii raiders overcome daemonic resistance and claim the field: Minor Victory.
• A 6th Edition Breakthrough against the Empire drove the Dark Elf raiding force through before the Imperial line could seal the exit: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Dwarfs saw repeater fire and sorcery wear down the stunted line across a broader field: Solid Victory.
• Against High Elves in a 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle, the kin-strife turned against Naggaroth. Asur spear and sorcery carried the full field: Solid Defeat.
• A second engagement against High Elves, a 6th Edition Breakthrough, produced the same result: the Asur line denied the Dark Elf advance completely: Solid Defeat.
The throne is still theirs, and no faction's total record comes close to touching it. But Week 5 left four defeats in the ledger for the first time, and Ulthuan's forces are now pressing from a position of real and rising momentum.
All other races bow, or they bleed. But this week, some of them pushed back.
Daemons
- Position: #4
- W/D/L: 18/5/7
The veil tears wherever the tide demands. But this week, High Elf discipline found the answer to the warp's first assault, and the tide did not recover what it spent.
The Daemons remain fourth, but Week 5 was a week of wild extremes. Their satellite hosts obliterated greenskin opposition with unearthly force while High Elf and Dark Elf resistance checked the tide wherever it attempted a crossing against prepared enemies.
In Karak Norn, Be_lakor_CH led a daemonic host into a 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Ironbreaker_Chris's Dwarfs fielding the Standard List (DW2-AB). Neither the warp's physical hammer nor the Dwarfen line's implacable stubbornness could produce a decisive result across the full engagement: Draw. Two forces built on different foundations, arriving at the same conclusion.
On the satellite fronts, the legions pushed wherever the veil was thinnest.
• Zambula's daemonic host fielding the Daemonic Legion (SoC) met a greenskin horde in a 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle and reduced the Orcs & Goblins to rubble: Massacre.
• A second daemonic host swept aside another Orc & Goblin force in a 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle with commanding ease: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against the Empire added another entry to the warp's tally, the daemonic host overrunning Imperial resistance on the larger field: Solid Victory.
• A TOW 500-point Exterminate against Dark Elves reversed the Druchii's usual formula. The daemonic force could not claim the field before the Druchii raiders extracted themselves: Minor Defeat.
• Against High Elves in a 6th Edition 500-point Pitched Battle, the Asur discipline denied the daemonic advance completely: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition Breakthrough against Hordes of Chaos found the northern warriors holding the exit against daemonic pressure: Solid Defeat.
• A second 6th Edition 500-point Pitched Battle against High Elves produced the same verdict as the first: Ulthuan's warriors outfought the daemonic host across the field: Solid Defeat.
The tide of the warp rises. But this week, it found more shorelines than it could simultaneously break.
Dogs of War
- Position: #13
- W/D/L: 6/5/13
Three massacres in a single week. The paychest grows heavier in some quarters and lighter in others. That is the mercenary condition, and the ledger improved regardless.
The Dogs of War enjoyed the sort of week only mercenaries could call profitable: ruin in one quarter, treasure in another, and enough spectacular local victories to drag the paychest three places up the standings.
In Karak Norn, Luccini_Merchant met Tyrant_Urs's Ogre Kingdoms across two 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battles. Both engagements ground to a halt without a decisive result, brute force meeting mercenary discipline in contests that neither side could fully resolve: Draw, and Draw.
Then the week's ledger swung wildly in both directions against the Orcs & Goblins.
• Luccini_Merchant led the mercenaries against Grimgor_Nick's greenskins in a 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle and found the Waaagh! in disarray. The pike blocks crashed home and the greenskin horde was shattered end to end: Massacre for the paymaster's ledger.
• In a 500-point Capture Border Patrol against the same opponent, the tables reversed entirely. Grimgor_Nick's greenskins seized the objective and the mercenaries could not take it back. The paychest absorbed a humiliating Massacre defeat.
The finest local work belonged to Tilean_Paymaster, who took the fight to Hashut_Yannick's Chaos Dwarfs in two 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battles and dismantled the Dawi-Zharr lines twice in succession.
• In the first engagement, the mercenary pike formations broke through the Chaos Dwarf position with methodical ferocity: Massacre.
• In the second, the sons of Hashut deployed again and paid the same price: a second Massacre for Tilean_Paymaster, and the week's most impressive local hat-trick when tallied alongside the Orcs & Goblins result.
On the satellite fronts, the contracts ran against the mercenaries.
• A TOW Table Quarters engagement against Tomb Kings saw the eternal dead outmanoeuvre the mercenary formations on the objective ground: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition Pitched Battle against Hordes of Chaos on the satellite fronts found the northern warriors too physical for the mercenary line at this scale: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition Pitched Battle against Dwarfs sent the mercenary force into a stunted wall that did not yield: Solid Defeat.
The contracts continue. Three massacres bought three places in the standings, and the Dogs of War will take that bargain every week it is offered.
Hordes of Chaos
- Position: #10
- W/D/L: 15/4/9
The Dark Gods demand blood. The blood flows freely. But this week, the High Elves took more of it than the Gods intended to give away.
The northern hosts were everywhere in Week 5, howling across local boards and distant satellite fronts alike. Yet for all their fury, their momentum was blunted twice over: by Dark Elf objective play in three Chosen Objective Border Patrols and by High Elf mastery of the Breakthrough field that ended in Massacre.
In Karak Norn, Everchosen_ZH led Archaon's Horde (SoC) in three 6th Edition 500-point Border Patrols against Druchii_Steff's Dark Elves under the Chosen Objective scenario. The northern warbands found the objective ground twice and denied it once.
• In the first engagement, Archaon's warriors seized the objective before the Dark Elf patrol could contest it: Minor Victory.
• In the second, the same result: the Chaos formation held the marker under sustained Druchii pressure: Minor Victory.
• In the third, the Dark Elves found the approach that had eluded them and reversed the result: Solid Defeat for the Everchosen's host.
Then Khorne_Mathias brought Archaon's Horde into the Breakthrough field against WhiteTower_HP's High Elves fielding the High Elf Sea Patrol (SoC), three 6th Edition 500-point Border Patrols. The series became the week's most instructive lesson in Asur discipline.
• In the first engagement, the northern warriors pressed the Breakthrough with force sufficient to deny the Sea Patrol a clean result: Draw.
• In the second, the High Elves had measured the Chaos advance and answered it with layered precision. The northern push was turned aside with authority: Solid Defeat.
• In the third, the Sea Patrol dismantled the Chaos warband before it could develop its assault into anything the field could sustain. The result admitted no ambiguity: Massacre for Ulthuan.
On the satellite fronts, three victories offered partial relief.
• A 6th Edition Breakthrough against Daemons found the northern host driving through before the daemonic line could seal the route: Solid Victory.
• A TOW 500-point Pitched Battle against Bretonnia sent the northern warbands crashing through Bretonnian lances for a Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition Pitched Battle against Dogs of War delivered a further Solid Victory, the northern warriors proving more physical than the mercenary line could contain.
• A TOW Table Quarters engagement against Tomb Kings found the eternal dead claiming more ground than the northern host could contest: Minor Defeat.
• A 6th Edition Breakthrough against Kislev on the satellite fronts gave the warbands one more entry in the victory column: Minor Victory.
The Everchosen's throne endures at tenth. The Chaos warbands fought everywhere and found victories and defeats in equal measure. Fury alone will not carry the north back to the upper ranks.
Lizardmen
- Position: #9
- W/D/L: 12/4/8
The Great Plan adapts. No local ground was needed; the satellite fronts proved sufficient for the cold-blooded advance to register its mark.
The Lizardmen's week was fought entirely across the satellite theatres, where cold-blooded discipline proved reliable if not quite transformative. Their cohorts took valuable victories, but the density of competition at the top of the table meant that even a respectable return could not prevent a small slide from eighth to ninth.
No local engagements were reported from Karak Norn for this faction in Week 5.
On the satellite fronts, the cold-blooded cohorts engaged the Skaven under-empire across three consecutive meetings.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Meeting Engagement against Skaven saw the scaled line establish dominance early and hold it through the full engagement: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Flank Attack by Skaven reversed the result. The ratmen found the flank and pressed it before the cold-blooded formation could pivot: Solid Defeat.
• A third engagement between the two factions, a 6th Edition 2,000-point Meeting Engagement, ground to a standstill across a wide field, neither side finding the decisive opening: Draw.
• Against the Empire in a 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle, the Lizardmen's physical dominance asserted itself against a formation that had already been badly mauled across the week's other fronts: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Kislev brought another measured result - the cold-blooded line too dense and too patient for the Kislevite formation to break: Solid Victory.
The temple-cities remain ninth. The Lizardmen's week was sound. The problem was that several rivals surged harder and faster around them. The Great Plan is patient. The standings are not always so forgiving.
Ogre Kingdoms
- Position: #12
- W/D/L: 5/5/10
The Maw hungers. Two draws and a satellite defeat is a lean week, even by the standards of a faction that measures success in meat.
For the Ogre Kingdoms, Week 5 was a hungry week with little decisive meat on the table. Two local draws kept the tyrants from outright collapse, but a satellite defeat to the High Elves left them slipping from tenth to twelfth.
In Karak Norn, Tyrant_Urs brought the Ogres into two 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battles against Luccini_Merchant's Dogs of War. Both engagements ground to an impasse: brute force met mercenary discipline, and the field could not decide between them. Draw. And Draw. An honest stalemate twice over, and nothing more.
On the satellite fronts, a single engagement was recorded.
• A TOW 500-point Chosen Objective Border Patrol against High Elves sent the Ogre warband into the Asur's precise defensive line. The High Elves contested the objective from range and denied the brutes the close-quarters engagement they needed: Solid Defeat.
The Ogres remain twelfth, hungry and frustrated. They will need something more decisive than draws and satellite disasters if they are to climb back into the campaign's middle ground.
Orcs & Goblins
- Position: #14
- W/D/L: 11/10/25
WAAAGH! Twenty-five losses and the boyz keep fighting. They massacred a Bretonnian army and a mercenary column in the same week they were massacred twice themselves. That is the greenskin condition.
No faction produced more noise than the Orcs & Goblins in Week 5. The Karak Norn local tables delivered a remarkable spectacle: Grimgor_Nick met Tzunki_Tom's force of Grimgor's Ardboyz (SoC) across three consecutive 6th Edition 500-point Exterminate Border Patrols, a greenskin civil war that resolved nothing and generated everything.
• In the first Exterminate, neither warband could secure the field outright: Draw.
• In the second, Tzunki_Tom's Ardboyz found the edge they needed. The rival Orcs retreated from the field: Minor Defeat for Grimgor_Nick.
• In the third, the brawl ground to a standstill again: Draw. Three games of Orcs fighting Orcs, recorded with the full solemnity of the campaign archive.
Against outside opponents, the week split with characteristic greenskin violence.
• Grimgor_Nick led the Orcs & Goblins against Luccini_Merchant's Dogs of War in a 6th Edition 500-point Capture Border Patrol. The greenskin tide seized the objective and held it against every mercenary attempt to reclaim it: Massacre for the Waaagh!
• In a 6th Edition 2,000-point Meeting Engagement against Le_Duc_85's Bretonnia, the Orcs caught the Bretonnian knights before the lance formation could develop and rolled straight over them: Massacre.
• Waaagh_Silvan led a TOW 500-point Meeting Engagement against Ghorgon_Eric's Beastmen and overwhelmed the brayherd entirely: Massacre.
• Against Luccini_Merchant's Dogs of War in a 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle, the result reversed: the mercenary pike blocks caught the Waaagh! in the open and shattered it from end to end: Massacre against the greenskins.
• Waaagh_Silvan then met Tzar_Dom's Kislev in a 6th Edition 500-point Meeting Engagement and found that the Bear God's riders have not forgotten how to fight. The Kislevite cavalry overran the greenskin patrol: Massacre for the Tzar.
On the satellite fronts, the Waaagh! continued its prolific output of mixed results.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Wood Elves ground to an even contest across a wide field: Draw.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Zambula's Daemonic Legion (SoC) produced the week's most emphatic reversal: the daemonic host demolished the greenskin warband utterly: Massacre for the warp.
• A 6th Edition 500-point Pitched Battle against Wood Elves found the forest skirmishers too precise for the greenskin patrol: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Daemons went to the warp again: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Flank Attack against High Elves ran into the week's most resurgent faction at the worst possible time: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Breakthrough against Bretonnia found the knights turning the tables on the greenskin advance: Solid Defeat.
Twenty-five losses and the boyz climb one place regardless. They may lose as loudly as they win, but there are so many of them that the campaign can never ignore the Waaagh! for long.
Vampire Counts
- Position: #3
- W/D/L: 14/2/6
Five battles. Five victories. The dead do not tire, and this week they did not lose.
No faction cast a longer shadow over Week 5 than the Vampire Counts. With five wins from five appearances, the undead rose from the middle ranks like a corpse from fresh earth, and every report carried the same grim refrain: the living had failed to hold them back.
In Karak Norn, Strigoi_Marco selected his target with precision and executed his plan across three consecutive 6th Edition 500-point Night Raid Border Patrols against Zambula's Chaos Dwarfs. The Night Raid is a scenario that rewards speed and aggression above all else, and the Vampire Counts brought both in abundance.
• In the first Night Raid, the undead host moved through the darkness with a purpose and swiftness that the Dawi-Zharr patrol could not match or anticipate. The forge-warriors were overrun before their defensive line could form: Solid Victory.
• In the second, Zambula adjusted and the dead adapted. The outcome was the same: the night belonged to the dead, and the Chaos Dwarfs paid for it again: Solid Victory.
• In the third Night Raid, the formula held without variance. Three engagements, three identical results, the Chaos Dwarf commander unable to find any response that changed the outcome once darkness fell: Solid Victory.
On the satellite fronts, the winning record extended without pause.
• An undead host engaged Grail_Seeker's Bretonnia in a 6th Edition 500-point Breakthrough Border Patrol. The lances could not stop what the night had already proved unstoppable: Solid Victory.
• Against Tzar_Dom's Kislev in a 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle, the Kislevite formation held as long as flesh and courage could hold it, then yielded. The dead claimed the field: Solid Victory.
This was the week of the dead. The Vampire Counts now stand third overall, with perfect momentum and a record that looks less like challengers gathering pace and more like a nightmare already standing at the gate.
II.II Defenders of the Relics
Bretonnia
- Position: #16
- W/D/L: 8/5/20
The lances shatter. Five consecutive local defeats is a toll that honour alone cannot pay, and the campaign standings have begun to collect the debt.
Bretonnia's lances found honour, but not enough victories. The satellite knights earned several worthy results, yet the local tables were brutal: the flower of chivalry was cut down by ancient kings, greenskin fury, Imperial shot and the beasts of the wild in five successive engagements without a single exception.
In Karak Norn, Le_Duc_85 led Bretonnia into the week's grimly consistent local run.
• Against Settra_Chris's Tomb Kings fielding the Mortuary Cult (Annual/Journal) in a TOW 3,000-point Pitched Battle, the eternal dead proved too dense and too magically imposing for the lance formation to break: Solid Defeat.
• Against ABadPainter's Empire in a 6th Edition 500-point Pitched Battle, the Imperial position turned Bretonnian lance momentum against the charging knights entirely. The lances were shattered before they could develop: Massacre for the Empire.
• Against Grimgor_Nick's Orcs & Goblins in a 6th Edition 2,000-point Meeting Engagement, the greenskin tide caught the Bretonnian formation in the open and ran through it entirely: Massacre for the Waaagh!
• Grail_Seeker also rode locally, leading a 6th Edition 500-point Pitched Battle against Tzar_Dom's Kislev. The Bear God's cavalry did not let the Bretonnian knightly formation find its momentum: Massacre for the Ice Queen's warriors.
• A TOW 500-point Capture Border Patrol against Ghorgon_Eric's Beastmen gave the local week its final verdict: the brayherd seized the objective and carved the Bretonnian patrol apart: Massacre.
Five local engagements. Zero victories. The realm found more dignity on the satellite fronts.
• A TOW Chosen Objective engagement against the Empire on the satellite fronts ended without a result either side could claim: Draw.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Meeting Engagement against the Empire saw the Bretonnian lance formation find the Imperial position exposed and exploit it cleanly: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Kislev sent the lances crashing home against the Kislevite host for a Solid Victory, the realm's finest result of the week.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Breakthrough against Orcs & Goblins allowed the knights to press the route and seize it before the greenskins could organise a defence: Solid Victory.
• A TOW 500-point Pitched Battle against Hordes of Chaos found the northern warriors too powerful for the Bretonnian patrol: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition Breakthrough against Vampire Counts proved as punishing as the night engagements had shown: the undead drove through without difficulty: Solid Defeat.
• Two 6th Edition Flank Attacks against Tomb Kings on the satellite fronts found the eternal dead outmanoeuvring the lance formation on both occasions: Solid Defeat, and Solid Defeat.
Bretonnia falls to sixteenth, and the price of honour has been steep. The satellite knights still have victories to their name, but the local campaign now demands more than gallantry and the Lady's blessing.
Dwarfs
- Position: #5
- W/D/L: 18/4/10
The mountain holds. The grudgebook grows. The Dawi settled more debts than they opened this week, and fifth place is solid stone underfoot.
The Dawi held firm in fifth, exactly where the campaign's bookkeepers had placed them the week before. It was not a spectacular surge, but it was a very Dwarf-like return: grudges settled, losses endured with appropriate resentment, and the battle-line still unbroken when the smoke cleared.
In Karak Norn, Ironbreaker_Chris led the Standard List (DW2-AB) into a 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Be_lakor_CH's Daemons. Neither daemonic physical force nor Dwarfen stubbornness could produce a decisive result across the full engagement. Both sides withdrew from the field with their honour and their casualties intact: Draw.
On the satellite fronts, the Throng extracted a strong haul.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Flank Attack against the Empire found the Imperial formation overextended. The Dwarfs pressed through and settled the matter with characteristic thoroughness: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 500-point Pitched Battle against Dogs of War saw the Dwarfen line refuse every mercenary advance and grind the paymaster's column down: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition Breakthrough against Beastmen found the herd unable to breach the stunted wall, and the Dwarfs turned the failed assault into a methodical dismantling of the brayherd: Solid Victory.
• An 8th Edition 2,000-point Flank Attack against the Empire produced a different result on a larger field. The Imperial formation found the angle the Dwarfs could not close in time: Minor Defeat.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Dark Elves placed the Throng against the campaign's summit. The Druchii's sorcery and repeater fire outpaced Dwarfen stubbornness on the larger field: Solid Defeat. The grudgebook has a new entry.
The ancestors watch with grim satisfaction as their sons hold fifth place and add three more victories to the count of those who dared the mountain line.
The Empire
- Position: #15
- W/D/L: 11/6/23
For Sigmar and the Emperor! But twelve defeats in a single week demands more than prayer and cannon-fire.
The Empire endured a punishing week. There were bright moments - a local massacre of Bretonnia and a solid satellite victory over the Chaos Dwarfs - but they were buried beneath a landslide of defeats that sent the men of Sigmar tumbling three places down the public standings.
In Karak Norn, the local campaign delivered its extremes in both directions. ABadPainter led the Empire against Le_Duc_85's Bretonnia in a 6th Edition 500-point Pitched Battle and found the lance formation in disarray: the Imperial forces swept the Bretonnians from the field without difficulty: Massacre.
Then the Skaven returned to collect what the week before had not yet settled.
• ABadPainter fought three consecutive 6th Edition 500-point Breakthrough Border Patrols against Queek_Swiss's Skaven. In the first, the Skaven drove through before the Imperial line could seal the exit: Solid Defeat. In the second, the Imperial defence narrowed the Skaven advance to a hard-fought result: Minor Defeat. In the third, the Empire finally closed the Breakthrough completely and held: Minor Victory.
Then Zharr_Naggrund_K's Chaos Dwarfs arrived with the week's most emphatic local answer.
• Heldenhammer_ZH led the Empire in a 6th Edition 500-point Meeting Engagement against the Chaos Dwarfs. The Dawi-Zharr war machine demolished the Imperial position end to end: Massacre.
• Against the same opponent in a TOW 3,000-point Pitched Battle, the Chaos Dwarf artillery and sorcery proved too dense and too relentless for the grand Imperial host to absorb. Another Massacre for Hashut's forge-warriors.
On the satellite fronts, the damage accumulated.
• An 8th Edition 2,000-point Flank Attack against Dwarfs found the Dwarfen patrol overextended and allowed the Imperial force to exploit the gap: Minor Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Chaos Dwarfs on the satellite fronts reversed the local result: the Imperial force found a weaker Dawi-Zharr formation and pressed home a Solid Victory.
• A TOW Chosen Objective engagement against Bretonnia ground to a standstill with neither side holding the marker cleanly: Draw.
• A 6th Edition Breakthrough against Dark Elves sent the Imperial column into Druchii repeater fire from the first step: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Tomb Kings placed the Imperial force against the eternal dead's patient resilience: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Flank Attack against Dwarfs produced a reversal of the 8th Edition result: the Dwarfen line held and denied the Imperial flanking manoeuvre: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Daemons sent the Imperial position into warp-fire it could not contain: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Lizardmen placed cold-blooded scale against Imperial cannon and found the cannon insufficient: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Meeting Engagement against Bretonnia reversed the Bretonnian local result on a different front: the lances crashed home for a Solid Defeat for the Empire.
The Empire drops to fifteenth, and the damage is plain. There are still fine soldiers in the ranks and capable generals at the front. Week 5 reads like a warning from every frontier at once.
High Elves
- Position: #6
- W/D/L: 12/5/8
Ulthuan answered the horns of war. Eight victories, one draw. The Asur rise from fourteenth to sixth in a single week, and every rival above them will now watch the white sails with care.
No army did more to rewrite its campaign story in a single week. WhiteTower_HP led the High Elf Sea Patrol (SoC) in Karak Norn, and the Breakthrough field became the site of the week's most instructive series. The opponent was Khorne_Mathias's Hordes of Chaos fielding Archaon's Horde (SoC), and three 6th Edition 500-point Border Patrols followed in succession.
• In the first Breakthrough, the Chaos warband pressed with enough force to deny the Sea Patrol a clean result: Draw. A fair opening on a contested field.
• In the second engagement, the Sea Patrol had measured the Chaos advance and answered with layered precision. The route was denied, the northern warriors turned back, and the Asur held every corner of the field: Solid Victory.
• In the third, the High Elves dismantled the Chaos warband before it could develop its assault into anything the field could contain. The result admitted no ambiguity: Massacre. Three engagements, and the lesson written for anyone watching from the campaign archives.
On the satellite fronts, the week continued without interruption.
• A 6th Edition 500-point Pitched Battle against Daemons saw the Asur discipline deny the daemonic advance completely: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Dark Elves turned the kin-strife in Ulthuan's favour. The Asur host outfought the Druchii across a full engagement: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Breakthrough against Dark Elves produced a second victory against the campaign's summit. The Asur line denied the Druchii advance and held the field: Solid Victory.
• A second 6th Edition 500-point Pitched Battle against Daemons matched the result of the first: High Elf precision outpacing daemonic force: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Flank Attack against Orcs & Goblins found the greenskin column unable to develop its charge against the Asur formation: Solid Victory.
• A TOW 500-point Chosen Objective Border Patrol against Ogre Kingdoms saw the Asur hold the objective against brute-force pressure: Solid Victory.
Eight victories. One draw. Zero defeats. From fourteenth to sixth. The High Elves have transformed from the campaign's most conspicuous underperformers into genuine contenders, and every faction in the upper half of the standings will now be watching Ulthuan's banners with a different kind of attention.
The Asur stand proud. The horizon now watches them back.
Kislev
- Position: #18
- W/D/L: 3/3/15
The Tzar's warriors carved two local massacres from the Karak Norn fronts. The satellite war tells a different story, and the standings have not forgotten it.
Kislev still props up the campaign table, yet Week 5 proved the northern realm is far from silent when the fighting is local. The Tzar's warriors produced two emphatic massacres in Karak Norn, even as the satellite fronts continued to punish them with hard defeats against stronger powers.
In Karak Norn, Tzar_Dom brought the Bear God's cavalry into two local engagements.
• Against Waaagh_Silvan's Orcs & Goblins in a 6th Edition 500-point Meeting Engagement, the Kislevite horse caught the greenskin patrol in the open and ran through it without mercy: Massacre.
• Against Grail_Seeker's Bretonnia in a 6th Edition 500-point Pitched Battle, the Tzar's warriors overwhelmed the Bretonnian patrol before the lance formation could develop its charge: Massacre. Two local engagements, two absolute results, and nothing that the satellite war could sustain.
On the satellite fronts, the rota of defeats continued.
• A 6th Edition Breakthrough against Hordes of Chaos found the northern warriors too strong for the Kislevite patrol to turn aside: Minor Defeat.
• A TOW 500-point Meeting Engagement against Chaos Dwarfs on the satellite fronts reversed the local dynamic: the Ice Queen's cavalry found the Dawi-Zharr formation at a disadvantage and pressed it to a decisive result: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Vampire Counts placed the Kislevite formation against the week's most perfect army. The dead did not allow the living the opening they needed: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Lizardmen placed cold-blooded mass against Kislevite cavalry, and the scales refused to tip in the Tzar's favour: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Wood Elves saw the forest skirmishers outrange and outmanoeuvre the Kislevite formation across a wide field: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Bretonnia on the satellite fronts reversed the local result: the lance formation caught the Kislevite cavalry at a disadvantage and did not let go: Solid Defeat.
Kislev remains eighteenth, but Week 5 gave its generals something to build upon. The local massacres were emphatic. If that steel can be carried into the wider war, the bottom rank may not hold the oblast forever.
Skaven
- Position: #2
- W/D/L: 14/4/4
The Under-Empire holds second. The tunnels remain open, the war machine never stops grinding, and second is still second no matter what manner of week was needed to keep it.
The Skaven war-machine kept its claws around second place, but this was a week of gnawed edges rather than clean conquest. Locally, Queek_Swiss turned the Empire's breakthrough attempts into a vicious running fight, while the wider under-empire found both glory and reversal against the cold-blooded hosts of Lustria.
In Karak Norn, Queek_Swiss led the Skaven into three consecutive 6th Edition 500-point Breakthrough Border Patrols against ABadPainter's Empire. The series produced a different result each time.
• In the first engagement, the Skaven drove through the Imperial position before it could organise a proper defence: Solid Victory.
• In the second, the Empire narrowed the Skaven's path and contested the exit more fiercely: the ratmen pushed through, but not cleanly: Minor Victory.
• In the third, the Imperial formation finally sealed the Breakthrough entirely. Queek_Swiss could not find the gap: Minor Defeat.
On the satellite fronts, the under-empire met the Lizardmen three times in a row and produced all three possible outcomes.
• A 6th Edition 500-point Breakthrough against Tomb Kings on the satellite fronts first brought a clean result: the Skaven drove through before the eternal dead could anchor: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Meeting Engagement against Lizardmen found the cold-blooded line too well-established to dislodge. The scaled wall held and the Skaven were driven back: Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Flank Attack against Lizardmen reversed that verdict: the Skaven found the flank before the cold-blooded formation could counter it: Solid Victory.
• A final 6th Edition 2,000-point Meeting Engagement against Lizardmen ground across a wide field with neither side finding the decisive advantage: Draw.
Second place remains safe for now. The Skaven did not escape the week untouched, but the Under-Empire does not need a clean week. It only needs to remain second when the dust settles, and it did.
Tomb Kings
- Position: #7
- W/D/L: 17/8/10
The legions march with the patience of eternity. Each week, the sands shift further in Nehekhara's favour.
The legions of Nehekhara advanced with the patience of the grave. Week 5 saw the Tomb Kings combine local battlefield authority with strong satellite returns, each victory adding another stone to the slow, inevitable monument of their rise from ninth to seventh.
In Karak Norn, Nehekhara_Pete led the Tomb Kings into two 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battles against Bray_Shaman_Dave's Beastmen.
• In the first engagement, the eternal dead pressed the brayherds back from their positions with measured authority. The herd could not match the undead formation's resilience across the full field: Minor Victory.
• In the second, both sides pressed hard without finding a decisive opening, the brayherds' ferocity meeting the undead's patient resilience in a contest neither could resolve: Draw.
The finest local result came from a different quarter. Settra_Chris led the Mortuary Cult (Annual/Journal) in a TOW 3,000-point Pitched Battle against Le_Duc_85's Bretonnia. The Bretonnian lances found the Nehekharan formation impossible to break: the eternal dead ground the lance charge to a halt and pressed back until the Bretonnian host was driven from the field: Solid Victory.
On the satellite fronts, the legions marched through opponent after opponent.
• A TOW 250-point Table Quarters engagement against Hordes of Chaos found the eternal dead controlling more ground than the northern warbands could contest: Minor Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Flank Attack against Bretonnia caught the lance formation before it could develop its manoeuvre: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against the Empire placed the eternal dead's resilience against Imperial cannon and discipline: the cannon fell silent before the undead line did: Solid Victory.
• A second 6th Edition 2,000-point Flank Attack against Bretonnia on a separate satellite front produced the same result as the first: the Bretonnian lance formation could not develop its sweep before the eternal dead closed the angle: Solid Victory.
• A TOW 250-point Table Quarters engagement against Dogs of War saw the mercenaries outmanoeuvre the eternal dead on the smaller field: Solid Victory for the paymasters.
• A 6th Edition 500-point Breakthrough against Skaven found the ratmen driving through before the Nehekharan rearguard could seal the route: Solid Defeat.
The Tomb Kings climb to seventh, and their week had the feel of inevitable grinding progress. They may not move quickly, but once the legions begin their march, few enemies are left standing where they began.
Wood Elves
- Position: #11
- W/D/L: 7/6/9
The forest watches from the shadows and chooses its ground with care. A quiet week, an efficient one, and the spirits of Athel Loren still standing when louder factions have fallen.
The forest realms fought little, but fought well. The Wood Elves did not dominate the week's headlines, yet their satellite bands emerged with enough success to keep the spirits of Athel Loren alive and the faction steady in the campaign's middle ground.
No local engagements were reported from Karak Norn for this faction in Week 5.
On the satellite fronts, three engagements were recorded.
• A 6th Edition 500-point Pitched Battle against Orcs & Goblins saw the forest skirmishers outrange and outmanoeuvre the greenskin patrol from the opening moments: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Kislev placed the Wood Elves' speed and precision against the Kislevite cavalry's range and aggression. The forest host was more patient, and patience claimed the field: Solid Victory.
• A 6th Edition 2,000-point Pitched Battle against Orcs & Goblins on a separate satellite front found the greenskin horde more numerous than the forest bands could fully contain. The engagement ground to an inconclusive result across the full field: Draw.
The Wood Elves stay eleventh, still waiting for the week that turns efficiency into true ascent. For now, the forest watches, shoots, fades, and endures where grander powers have already fallen.
III. The Norn Consensus updates
The Norn Consensus convened this week to resolve a critical mechanical dispute within the campaign ledger. The most significant ruling concerns the notoriously restrictive alternative army lists: the Army of Quatar, Vampire Coast, Army of the Lichemaster, and the Lustria campaign variants.
Under strict 6th Edition architecture, these factions are inherently prohibited from engaging in conflicts under 2,000 points due to their mandated command structures. To preserve the momentum of the early campaign skirmishes, the Consensus has officially ratified a house-rule bypassing this restriction. These specific variant lists are now permitted to deploy in Border Patrol formats and sub-2K engagements by fielding a Hero-level general in place of a Lord.
• In the case of Army of Quatar, the player may field a single Liche Priest as the General.
• In the case of Army of the Lichemaster, the player may field a Barrow King or a Shadow Druid as the General.
However, this remains a house-rule. Deploying these specialized vanguard forces requires the explicit, prior consent of your opponent before any dice are rolled.
