The summer storms have broken across the Old World, and the fourth week of the campaign has delivered its most dramatic upheaval yet. Fifty-seven recorded engagements - from desperate 250-point border patrol skirmishes to thunderous 4000-point pitched battles - have been recorded in the archives. But the volume of blood spilled is not the defining story. The defining story is the emergence of six coalition engagements across the campaign: three in the Karak Norn heartland, three on the satellite fronts. Commanders broke from their individual campaigns to forge alliances, and in one local coalition, the alliance forged has a name that the campaign's chroniclers have been hesitant to write plainly: a dark conspiracy.
 |
| Evolution of the meta this week. The Dark Elves seized the summit in a display of cold, perfect discipline. |
The summit of the ladder was shaken to its foundations. For the first time in the campaign, the Skaven have been unseated:
- The Dark Elves completed their ascension, surging from #3 to #1 with a perfect campaign ledger - twelve victories, five draws, and not a single defeat.
- The Skaven slipped to #2, their grip on the top broken not by catastrophe, but by the relentless arithmetic of the Druchii's flawless campaign.
- The Chaos Dwarfs hold at #3, the forge-wars contested from above for the first time.
- The Lizardmen made the week's most dramatic climb, surging from #12 to #7 as Tzunki_Tom's cold-blooded Southlands defenders methodically dismantled the Vampire Counts' Clan Necrarch host in back-to-back Rear Guards.
- The Dwarfs advanced sharply from #8 to #5 - driven by Bugmans_Father's merciless hat-trick over the Empire's Crusader Army border patrols.
- Falling back: Hordes of Chaos slipped from #4 to #6, ground down in a vicious feud with Be'lakor's Daemons. Vampire Counts plummeted from #6 to #8, broken on the jungle shields of Tzunki_Tom. Orcs & Goblins continue their descent, now at #15 and bleeding on every front.
Among the six coalition engagements, one stands above all others. In the Karak Norn heartland, Clan_Pestilens_Flo led a Clan Skryre Skaven force (with Doomwheel and Engineers) into a 2000-point Pitched Battle alongside an ally no sane scholar would have predicted: WhiteTower_HP and the High Elf Sea Patrol (Storm of Chaos, full of Mist Mages). Standing against them were Nehekhara_Pete at the head of Quatar's Army and Le_Duc_85 commanding the knights of Bretonnia. The conspiracy's thirteen combined casting dice against the defenders' four dispel dice was not an advantage - it was dominance. The Tomb King and Bretonnian position was shattered for a thunderous Solid Victory, 766 VPs each for the conspiracy against 306 each for those who dared oppose them. The name of this campaign is not merely a title. It is a warning.
 |
| Global Scoreboard. A new king sits at the summit. The middle tiers have been turned upside down. |
Archivist's Note: The Dark Elves' ascension is not a fluke - it is the mathematical result of flawless discipline. Druchii_Steff's Morathi-led host marched with strong magic, and Tzar_Dom's Kislev had no answer for it. But the deeper story of Week 4 is the shape of the coalition games. Six times this week, commanders pooled their forces: three times in Karak Norn, three times on the satellite fronts; and not all alliances were equal. The Skaven and High Elves made common cause beneath a banner no historian wants to explain. The Daemons, twice fielding hosts at Magic Rating ten, overwhelmed a Last Stand coalition of Chaos Dwarfs and Bretonnians on the satellite front. The middle tiers have not merely reshuffled. They have been conspired against.
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: 6/1/15
The herd howls. The herd bleeds. The herd does not learn.
The brayherds fought across the satellite fronts this week and bled for nearly all of them.
• Against Dark Elves in a TOW Night Raid, the herd rushed into the dark and found that Druchii repeater crossbows work just as lethally after sunset. Shattered in the darkness, 118 VPs to 503. Solid Defeat.
• Against Dwarfs in a T9A Night Raid, the stunted warriors met the charge with shields and axes and carved the brayherds apart methodically: 20 VPs for the herd against 520 for the mountain folk. Solid Defeat.
• Against Lizardmen in a T9A Capture the Centre, the scaled line anchored the objective with cold patience and refused every attempt to dislodge it, 251 to 657. Solid Defeat.
• Against Orcs & Goblins in a 500-point Breakthrough, the greenskins turned the brayherds' own momentum against them, pressing through beastman ground for a Minor Defeat.
• Against Ogre Kingdoms in a TOW 2000-point Pitched Battle, even a special-character-led warband could not impose the herd's ferocity on the Maw's chosen: shattered, 646 to 1,326. Solid Defeat.
• On the border-princelands, the brayherd struck a rain-lashed village and found a Mercenary army waiting for them. Warhounds and Ungors flooded the lanes ahead of a Chaos Spawn, a Dragon Ogre and a Gorebull, but the Renegade Crowns mercenaries held far longer than any frightened village should have expected. The Brigands dragged down the Spawn, then somehow broke and ran down the Dragon Ogre, while the Badlands Bulls locked the Gorebull in a brutal stalemate beside the village well. When the Gors finally broke under halberds, militia blades and mercenary discipline, the herd withdrew with only 150 VPs against the Iron Talons' 500: a Solid Defeat for claw, horn and rain-soaked fury.
Three moments of genuine darkness-born triumph cut through the week's failures:
• A Night Raid against Dwarfs finally found the stunted patrol overextended and paid them back in blood: Solid Victory, 667 to 171.
• A Night Raid against Wood Elves brought a Minor Victory (404 to 106), the Asrai's speed insufficient to escape the herd's ferocity in close terrain.
• And a 500-point Exterminate against Dwarfs swung just right, the brayherds carving enough flesh to claim the field before the Dwarfen line could lock down. Minor Victory, 271 to 65.
Coalition warfare split the herd's fortunes precisely.
• Paired with Ogre Kingdoms in an 8th Edition Breakthrough against a Daemons and Lizardmen alliance, both brayherds and brutes were shut out completely: zero VPs each, the opposing line immovable and the route denied. Minor Defeat, 0 to 431.
• But paired with Hordes of Chaos in a 3000-point Capture against Orcs & Goblins and High Elves, the natural warband-spirit between brayherds and chaos warriors proved decisive against an unstable greenskin-elf pact that never found its footing. Solid Victory (530 VPs each for Beastmen and Chaos, 294 apiece for the opposing alliance). An unexpected triumph the rest of the herd's record does nothing to deserve.
The brayherds find blood everywhere. They just bleed far more of their own.
Chaos Dwarfs
- Position: #3
- W/D/L: 7/3/1
The fires of Hashut burn on. But for the first time, they cast shadows of doubt upward.
Zambula contested one coalition engagement in Karak Norn and another on the satellite fronts this week, and the forge of war produced neither triumph nor ruin in the local clash. In the first, he led the Dawi-Zharr Standard host in partnership with Settra_Chris's Quatar's Army Tomb Kings against Luccini_Merchant's Dogs of War and Queek_Swiss's Skaven in a 2000-point Pitched Battle. Four experienced commanders across a full battlefield: Dawi-Zharr artillery and Skaven warp-lightning traded fire, Quatar's constructs held one flank while mercenary pike blocks anchored the other. Neither coalition found the decisive breach. Both sides scored heavily enough to deny the other a result: Draw, 703 VPs each for Chaos Dwarfs and Tomb Kings, 762 each for the Dogs of War and Skaven.
On the satellite fronts, the Dawi-Zharr faced the week's most extreme magical imbalance.
• In a TOW Last Stand alongside Bretonnia, the Chaos Dwarf fortress discipline faced a Tzeentch Daemonic assault force and Wood Elves (with Treeman and Spellsingers). The combined arcane weight was beyond any defensive line to weather. Despite the Dawi-Zharr defenders and their Bretonnian allies scoring 628 VPs each in kills, a testament to the disciplined resistance of the Last Stand position, the Daemonic tide broke through regardless: Solid Defeat.
• A Night Raid against Tomb Kings on a separate satellite front was a more measured affair, both sides choosing their engagements carefully and separating with a Draw, 389 to 434.
The forge churns. But Naggaroth now casts a long shadow from the summit that even Hashut cannot easily dispel.
Dark Elves
- Position: #1
- W/D/L: 12/5/0
The Black Arks sail victorious. No banner yet stands before the Druchii.
Druchii_Steff did not need the satellite fronts to reach the summit of this campaign. He needed two Flank Attacks in Karak Norn and the cold, repeatable precision of the same result achieved twice against the same opponent. His target was Tzar_Dom's Kislev, a Standard host of 2000 points with powerful cavalry and no special characters, and Druchii_Steff arrived at the head of a Morathi-led force, carrying the full weight of Naggaroth's sorcerous tradition.
• In the first Flank Attack, the Dark Elf crossbows opened before the Kislevite flanking column could develop its sweep. Sorcery shattered the formation's coherence before it found momentum, and the survivors were driven from the field: 1,050 VPs for Naggaroth, 236 for the Tzar, a Solid Victory.
• In the second engagement, Tzar_Dom committed more urgently, varied his angle, and sought a faster development of the flanking manoeuvre. The Dark Elves answered with the same sorcery, the same crossbows, the same clinical efficiency: 1,548 VPs to 629, a second Solid Victory. Across both battles, 2,598 points of Kislevite misery against 865 for the defending faction.
Beyond the mountains of Karak Norn, the Druchii players swept everything before them.
• Against Beastmen in a TOW Night Raid, the herd rushed into the dark and found repeater fire equally lethal after sunset: Solid Victory, 503 to 118.
• Against Orcs & Goblins in two 6th Edition engagements (a Night Raid and a Breakthrough), the Druchii raiders visited their expertise on greenskin patrols twice, both Solid Victories.
• Against Skaven in a 6th Edition Chosen Objective, the marker was simply beyond the ratmen's reach under sustained Dark Elf pressure: Solid Victory, 457 to 20.
• A 250-point Exterminate against Kislev added a further Minor Victory (473 to 240), another entry against the Ice Queen's borderlands.
• A Table Quarters patrol against Hordes of Chaos placed the Druchii vanguard superior on the contested ground: Minor Victory, 489 to 300.
Two draws provided the week's only resistance.
• A T9A Night Raid against Empire was ferociously close: 577 to 545, neither patrol commander willing to commit fully to a decisive action. Draw.
• And a TOW 3000-point Pitched Battle against a High Elves host led by Korhil Lionmane descended into kin-strife across an enormous field: 1,816 to 1,546, neither side willing to hand the other a clean victory when pride and position were both at stake. Draw.
Twelve victories. Five draws. Not a single defeat. For the first time in the campaign, #1 belongs to Naggaroth.
All other races bow, or they bleed.
Daemons
- Position: #4
- W/D/L: 16/4/4
The veil frays. What spills through is never patient.
Be_lakor_CH chose the Daemonic Legion list from the Storm of Chaos supplement, a Slaaneshi host led by Azazel, the Prince of Damnation that trusts entirely to physical lethality and supernatural speed, and committed it into two consecutive 2000-point Breakthrough battles against Everchosen_ZH's Archaon's Horde consecrated to Tzeentch. Even in the tides of the Dark Conspiracy, the Ruinous Powers keep playing to the Great Game.
• In the first Breakthrough, the calculation failed. Archaon's sorcerers saturated the battlefield before the Daemonic vanguard could fully commit, stripping the physical hammer of its shock advantage before it landed. The Chaos warriors held their position, absorbed the daemonic push, and forced the legions back: 913 VPs to zero, a Minor Victory for the Horde. Be_lakor_CH had brought a physically dominant force to a sorcerer's duel, and Archaon's magicians made him pay for it precisely.
• The second battle was answered differently. Be'lakor drove his daemonic hammer not at the prepared face of the Chaos formation but through the physical seam where the mortal warriors were thinnest, bypassing the sorcerous advantage entirely. The push held just long enough to seize the route: 697 VPs to zero for the Daemons, a Minor Victory for the legions of the warp.
Two battles. Exactly split. Every grudge alive and unresolved.
Across the satellite fronts, the legions pushed wherever the veil thinned.
• In a TOW Capture against Wood Elves, a Daemonic host consecrated to Tzeentch (a concentration of raw warp power the Asrai spellsingers could not match) crossed the killing ground and seized the objective before the forest-spirit defenders could contest it: Solid Victory, 696 to 403.
• A Nurglish Daemonic Legion fought a 6th Edition 3000-point Capture against Hordes of Chaos consecrated to Khorne, a contest of pure physical attrition: daemonic resilience outlasted mortal dark warriors in a long grinding struggle, Solid Victory, 944 to 705.
• An 8th Edition Breakthrough against a special-character-led Dwarf line saw the Daemonic host drive through before the formation could seal the breach. The Anvil of Doom of Thorek Ironbrow could not stop the Undivided Chaos demonic horde. Minor Victory, 754 to zero.
• A 250-point Chosen Objective against Orcs & Goblins saw a tiny daemonic detachment hold the marker under pressure: Minor Victory, 538 to 302.
• A TOW Capture the Centre against Ogre Kingdoms was the honest Draw of two Fear-causing armies without significant magical advantage on either side: 817 to 690.
In the coalition wars, the legions fought on two satellite fronts.
• Allied with Lizardmen in an 8th Edition Breakthrough against Beastmen and Ogre Kingdoms, the Daemonic and cold-blooded line proved immovable: Minor Victory, 431 VPs each, both opponents shut out at zero.
• Allied with Wood Elves in a TOW Last Stand against Chaos Dwarfs and Bretonnia (commanded by Sir Cecil Gastonne), a Tzeentchian Daemonic host broke through the defensive position regardless of the defenders' heavy toll: Solid Victory, the attackers scoring 104 VPs each but breaching the line completely.
The tide of the warp rises, and it does not recede on command.
Dogs of War
- Position: #16
- W/D/L: 4/3/9
The paychest is lighter than expected. The swords are still sharp enough.
Luccini_Merchant brought a special-character-commanded Dogs of War Standard host into what became the most complex engagement of his local campaign: a 2000-point 2v2 Pitched Battle alongside Queek_Swiss's Skaven with Screaming Bell. It was a fractious partnership from the start, the mercenaries and the ratmen watching each other with professional suspicion even as they faced the combined weight of Zambula's Chaos Dwarfs and Settra_Chris's Quatar's Army Tomb Kings. Four veteran forces across a full battlefield. Dawi-Zharr artillery opened; Skaven warp-lightning answered; Quatar's constructs advanced on one flank while the mercenary pike blocks ground into position on the other. Neither coalition found the decisive opening. The engagement ground to a hard Draw: 762 VPs each for the mercenaries and ratmen, 703 each for the Dawi-Zharr and eternal dead. Honourable stalemate in difficult company, and the only local action of the week.
On the satellite fronts, the paymasters found better news.
• In a 500-point engagement over a village of the Border Princes, the mercenaries earned their pay the hard way. The mercenary Captain fighters held the village square through rain, mud and panic: the Brigands pinned and killed the Chaos Spawn, then survived the Dragon Ogre long enough to run it down, while the Badlands Bulls locked the Gorebull in a savage, unresolved brawl by the well. Once the halberdiers and militia broke the Ungors and Gors street by street, the Brayherd slipped back into the forest. The village still stood, barely, and the mercenaries held the field: 500 VPs to 150, a Solid Victory for coin over claw.
• In a TOW 1000-point Table Quarters battle against Tomb Kings, the mercenaries won by the width of a paymaster's ledger: 571 to 533, a Minor Victory that edged the dead out of the decisive quarter.
The contracts continue. A few more engagements like this one and the Dogs of War might trouble the middle of the table.
Hordes of Chaos
- Position: #6
- W/D/L: 10/3/5
The Dark Gods demand blood. The blood flows - but not always in the right direction.
Khorne_Mathias opened the Karak Norn week in coalition: a 1000-point Flank Attack alongside ABadPainter's Empire (an uneasy pairing of martial philosophies that worked against each other as much as toward a common aim) against Tyrant_Urs's Ogre Kingdoms and Ironbreaker_Chris's Dwarfs (from the 2nd book of 6th edition). The Chaos-Imperial alliance carried a strong combined magical edge, but it proved insufficient. The Ogres absorbed the sorcerous barrage through sheer physical mass, and the Dwarfs, unmoved by anything the Dark Gods' champions could conjure, anchored the line with implacable patience. The flanking attack stalled: Draw, 226 VPs each for Chaos and Empire, 289 each for the mountain-allied side. The Church of Sigmar rejects these desperate campaign justifications, and Volkmar himself has dispatched Witch Hunters to conduct a full investigation into this heresy.
Then Everchosen_ZH entered the most personal contest of the week: two 2000-point Breakthrough battles as a Tzeentchian Archaon's Horde ( Storm of Chaos) against Be_lakor_CH's Slaaneshi Daemonic Legion.
• In the first, the sorcerers of the Horde dominated the magical phase before the Daemonic hammer could properly commit, stripping the physical striking force of its shock value: 913 VPs to zero, Minor Victory for the Everchosen.
• In the second, Be'lakor drove his hammer through the physical seam where the Chaos line was thinnest, bypassing sorcery entirely: zero to 697 for the Daemons, the reversed verdict. Minor Defeat.
Two battles. Split honours. No resolution and every grudge still burning.
On the satellite fronts,
• A 250-point Table Quarters against Dark Elves found the Druchii vanguard superior on contested ground for a Minor Defeat (300 to 489).
• A 3000-point Capture against a Nurglish Daemonic force (both sides focused pure physical, magic-less attrition) ended in a Solid Defeat (705 to 944), the greater warp-tide outlasting mortal dark warriors in the long contest.
• In coalition on the satellite fronts, the Chaos warriors paired with Beastmen in a 3000-point Capture against Orcs & Goblins and High Elves. The natural warband-spirit between Chaos and brayherds outweighed the greenskin-elf alliance's inherent dysfunction: Solid Victory, 530 VPs each for Beastmen and Chaos, 294 apiece for the opposing pact.
The Everchosen's throne endures. But the black crown grows heavier, and the summit grows further away.
Lizardmen
- Position: #7
- W/D/L: 12/3/7
The Great Plan demands victory. This week, the servants of the Old Ones delivered where it mattered most.
The Great Plan makes no allowances for excuses. Tzunki_Tom offered none.
Deploying the Southlands variant (Lizardmen Army Book), a Nakai-commanded force designed for physical dominance and ancient purpose rather than sorcery, Tzunki_Tom faced Strigoi_Marco's Clan Necrarch across two 2000-point Rear Guard battles. The Necrarch bloodline brought no special character, but strong magic (one of the highest of any local commander this week) and the relentless, fear-radiating pressure of necromantic warfare. On paper, the undead held every advantage the magical phase could offer. In practice, Tzunki_Tom built two walls of Saurus, cold blood, and ancient patience, and Strigoi_Marco shattered his forces against both.
• In the first Rear Guard, the Necrarch necromancers opened with dark rites and the skeletal formations advanced in locked, remorseless step. Tzunki_Tom's blocks did not yield the ground. They absorbed every spell and every charge with the patience of creatures who measure time in centuries, and ground the undead advance down until the dead had nothing left to animate: Solid Victory, 1,000 VPs to 80.
• In the second, Strigoi_Marco pressed with greater urgency, aware of what another defeat would cost in the standings. The scaled wall answered with the same cold patience. The same result. Solid Victory, 500 VPs to 80. Two games. The same 80 VPs for the undead each time. The lesson: even the most powerful magic power can not conjure its way through a defensive line that has already decided not to move.
The satellite fronts reinforced the climb.
• A TOW Breakthrough against Orcs & Goblins saw the cold-blooded advance force the route for a Minor Victory.
• A T9A Capture the Centre against Beastmen had the scaled line seizing and holding the objective for a Solid Victory, 657 to 251.
• An 8th Edition Capture the Centre against Kislev brought a Minor Victory through measured, professional pressure.
• A T9A Ambush against Bretonnia snapped shut for a Minor Victory, 737 to 299.
• In coalition, allied with Nurgle Daemons in an 8th Edition Breakthrough against Beastmen and Ogre Kingdoms, the Daemonic-Lizardmen line proved immovable: Minor Victory, 431 VPs each, both opponents at zero.
The temple-cities endure. The Lizardmen have climbed five places in a week. The Great Plan is not yet fulfilled, but its servants have taken a significant step forward.
Ogre Kingdoms
- Position: #10
- W/D/L: 6/4/9
The Maw is fed. The Dwarfs left an especially bitter taste.
Tyrant_Urs opened the local week in coalition: a 1000-point Flank Attack alongside Ironbreaker_Chris's Dwarfs (2nd book of 6th edition) against Khorne_Mathias's Hordes of Chaos and ABadPainter's Empire. The Chaos-Imperial side carried a strong combined magic that Ogres and Dwarfs absorbed it through physical mass and Dwarfen stubbornness: Draw, 289 VPs each for the mountain-allied coalition against 226 for the Chaos-Empire pairing.
In a TOW 500-point Capture the Centre on the satellite fronts, the Maw ran directly into the warp:
• Two Fear-causing Hammer forces, neither carrying any arcane edge. What remained was pure physical contest, Ogre fist against daemonic resilience. The brutes scored 690 VPs to the Daemons' 817, and neither side claimed the centre cleanly enough to call it a victory: hard Draw.
• The week's bright moment came in a T9A 2000-point Sheer Heroism! against the Empire. The Imperial position bristled with cannon against the Maw, but black powder proved irrelevant once Ogre mass finally crashed home. The brutes overwhelmed the position: Solid Victory, 813 VPs to 80.
Then came the Dwarfs. Three separate engagements. Three humiliations. The Dwarfs are resistant to brute force and fear, which renders the Maw's most reliable psychological weapon useless before the first blow is struck. They fight as an Anvil, slow and implacable, and they do not flinch from brutes who rely on terror.
• In a TOW 1000-point Patrol, the Dwarf column marched through the Ogre position and ground it down methodically: Solid Defeat, 136 VPs to 699.
• In a 500-point 6th Edition Breakthrough, it was worse: the Ogres barely reached the Dwarfen line before being dismantled, scoring 20 VPs against 553. The stunted warriors did not even grant the brutes the dignity of a fighting withdrawal. Solid Defeat.
• A 500-point Night Raid under random system conditions changed nothing: the Dwarfs held again, 66 VPs to 576. Solid Defeat.
Three encounters, three stonewalls. The Maw cannot break what does not fear it.
• Against a 2000-point Tomb Kings army in a 6th Edition Pitched Battle, the Ogres ran into the same problem at larger scale. The undead are also resistant to fear, and their magic is strong. Incantations replenished casualties, the skeletal line refused to collapse under charges that would have broken mortal armies, and the score reflected the gap between flesh and bone: Solid Defeat, 542 VPs to 1,723.
• The one full redemption came in a TOW 2000-point Pitched Battle against Beastmen, both sides fielding special characters. The brayherd outnumbered the Ogres, but they rallied in fear when the Ogres attacked. The herd's charge broke apart against the Maw's momentum, and the brutes turned the engagement into a deliberate demolition: Solid Victory, 1,326 VPs to 646.
• In coalition, paired with Beastmen in an 8th Edition Breakthrough against Daemons and Lizardmen, both allies were shut out: zero VPs each, Minor Defeat.
The Maw will be fed again next week. The Dwarfs will not enjoy the Ogres' renewed attention.
Orcs & Goblins
- Position: #15
- W/D/L: 8/5/19
WAAAGH! The boyz keep fighting. The boyz keep losing. The boyz have nineteen defeats and are still coming.
Grimgor_Nick opened the Karak Norn week with a 750-point Meeting Engagement against Grail_Seeker's Bretonnia, greenskin mass against Bretonnian steel in a chaotic mid-table brawl where neither commander could land a decisive charge or hold the decisive ground. The engagement bled itself out to a Draw, 472 to 567, satisfying nobody and resolving nothing.
The satellite fronts were a catalogue of frustrated aggression.
• A TOW 3000-point Meeting Engagement against Tomb Kings ground across an enormous field until both sides were too exhausted to claim a result: Draw, 1,631 to 1,946.
• A 6th Edition Night Raid against Dark Elves showed the Druchii at their most pitiless: the greenskin patrol demolished for 20 VPs against 509. Solid Defeat.
• A 6th Edition Breakthrough against Dark Elves produced the same result: Solid Defeat.
• A TOW Breakthrough against Lizardmen ran into a cold-blooded wall that refused to open: Minor Defeat, 0 to 1,081: not a single Orc reached the other side.
• A 6th Edition 4000-point Pitched Battle against Wood Elves commanded by Orion and Ariel, saw the Asrai marshal a vast host and sweep the greenskin horde aside without particular difficulty: Solid Defeat, 160 to 2,113.
• A TOW 2000-point Pitched Battle against Bretonnia sent the knights crashing home with their lances to claim a Solid Defeat (796 to 1,397).
• A separate TOW Capture against Bretonnia ended no better for the greenskins: the knights seized the objective and forced another Solid Defeat on the Waaagh!, 407 to 692.
• A 6th Edition Chosen Objective against Daemons saw the warp-spawn hold the marker: Minor Defeat, 302 to 538.
• A TOW Pitched Battle against Dwarfs, led by Burlok Damminson, had the Throng refuse every charge for a Minor Defeat, 559 to 1,121. The Goblin horde of Kiknik Toofsnatcha is demoralized!
Three times, the Waaagh! found teeth.
• A 6th Edition Breakthrough against Beastmen brought a Minor Victory (317 to 57), the boyz pressing through beastman ground with cheerful brutality.
• A TOW Meeting Engagement against Tomb Kings delivered a Solid Victory (1,459 to 814), the greenskin tide finally finding a foe their mass could overwhelm outright.
• And in a 6th Edition 2000-point Pitched Battle against Zambula's Clan Moulder experiment, the Orcs & Goblins tore through the rat-ogre pens and seized a Solid Victory, 1,600 to 600.
In coalition, allied with High Elves against Beastmen and Hordes of Chaos in a 3000-point Capture, the greenskin-elf pact's mismatched synergy faced the Chaos-beastman natural cohesion. The cohesion difference proved decisive: Solid Defeat, 294 VPs each against 530 for the victors.
Nineteen losses and counting. But the boyz never stop. It may be their greatest quality, and their greatest curse.
Vampire Counts
- Position: #8
- W/D/L: 9/2/6
The Midnight Aristocracy met their match in the jungle. And paid for it twice.
Strigoi_Marco brought the Clan Necrarch host into Karak Norn with every sorcerous advantage his bloodline possesses, (one of the highest of any local commander this week) and the relentless necromantic pressure of an army that neither tires nor breaks. His opponent, Tzunki_Tom's Southlands Lizardmen (commanded by Nakai, Sacred Kroxigor of the First Spawning), brought just basic magic protection and big numbers.
• In the first Rear Guard scenario, the Necrarch necromancers raised their spells and the skeletal formations advanced in locked step. Tzunki_Tom's Saurus blocks held their ground with the patience of creatures who measure time in centuries. The scaled wall absorbed every incantation, refused every charge, and ground the undead advance to nothing: Solid Defeat for Strigoi_Marco, 80 VPs to 1,000.
• In the second, the Vampire Count pressed with greater urgency, aware of what another defeat would cost. The defensive wall answered with the same implacable patience. Same result: 80 VPs to 500, another Solid Defeat. Two games. The same 80 VPs for the undead each time.
The slide from #6 to #8 in a single week. A top magic army, broken twice by a mundane horde army, on the same ground.
The Sylvanian legions must find new battlefields. The jungle has been closed to them by cold blood and iron scales.
II.II Defenders of the Relics
Bretonnia
- Position: #11
- W/D/L: 7/6/14
The Lady's realm fights on, but the realm pays in blood for every yard it holds.
Le_Duc_85 rode into the most humiliating engagement of his campaign without knowing what had been arranged against him. At the head of Sir Cecil Gastonne-commanded Bretonnian host, alongside Nehekhara_Pete's Quatar's Army Tomb Kings in a 2000-point 2v2 Pitched Battle, he expected to face Clan Pestilens. He did face them. What he had not prepared for was the force beside the ratmen: WhiteTower_HP's High Elf Sea Patrol (full of Mist Mages), combining with Clan_Pestilens_Flo's Clan Skryre SAD Skaven (with a Doomwheel and full of Engineers) to produce a combined magic weight of thirteen against the defenders' seven. The Dark Conspiracy unfolded in front of Bretonnian lances. Arcane fire disrupted the knightly charge before it could develop. The Tomb King position was hammered simultaneously from a different angle. Neither defender held: Solid Defeat, 306 VPs each for Bretonnia and the eternal dead against 766 each for the conspiracy.
Grail_Seeker also rode in Karak Norn, leading a 750-point force in a Meeting Engagement against Grimgor_Nick's Orcs & Goblins: greenskin choppa against Bretonnian steel in a grinding Draw, 567 to 472.
On the satellite fronts, the realm's fortunes were uneven.
• A TOW Breakthrough against High Elves saw the Asur line deny the lance charge for a Minor Defeat (0 to 696).
• A TOW Flank Attack against Skaven matched the ratmen against the knights for a Draw (482 to 598), neither commander finding the decisive manoeuvre.
• A T9A Ambush by Lizardmen snapped shut on the Bretonnian patrol for a Minor Defeat, 299 to 737.
Two victories restored some measure of honour:
• a TOW Capture against Orcs & Goblins had the knights seize the objective (692 to 407), and Solid Victory.
• a TOW 2000-point Pitched Battle sent the lances crashing home against the Waaagh! for a Solid Victory, 1,397 to 796.
In coalition, paired with Chaos Dwarfs in a TOW Last Stand against a Daemonic force of Tzeentch and Wood Elves (full of Spellsingers), the defensive position was overwhelmed despite the defenders scoring 628 VPs each in kills: Solid Defeat, the Daemonic tide breaking through the Last Stand position regardless.
The banners of Bretonnia still fly. But the week's losses far outnumber the victories, and the ladder reflects that truth.
Dwarfs
- Position: #5
- W/D/L: 16/3/8
The mountain holds. The grudgebook grows thicker. The hammers do not rest.
Bugmans_Father arrived at the Karak Norn battlefields with the DW2-AB (2nd armybook) list and a simple tactical philosophy: the grudgebook does not care about magic points, and neither does the Dwarfen line. His was a force with almost no magic (the Dwarfs trust steel, not sorcery) and he marched it against Heldenhammer_ZH's Crusader Army ( Empire Army Book) across three consecutive 500-point Chosen Objective battles. Three times the Imperial colours came back stained.
• In the first engagement, the Crusader Army pressed with discipline and order, and the Dwarfen formation refused to yield the marker: Minor Victory, 683 VPs to 496, the objective held through stubbornness alone.
• In the second battle, the Dwarfs read every Imperial move before it developed: the line locked down the marker completely, the Crusaders scattered from the objective: Solid Victory, 878 to 525.
• By the third, Heldenhammer_ZH's confidence was broken. A changed approach produced a familiar result: Solid Victory, 782 to 333.
Three battles, three victories. A hat-trick of controlled humiliation for the Emperor's Crusaders.
Ironbreaker_Chris also fought in Karak Norn, deploying the DW2-AB list in coalition alongside Tyrant_Urs's Ogre Kingdoms in a 1000-point Flank Attack against Khorne_Mathias's Hordes of Chaos (combining Nurgle and Slaanesh) and ABadPainter's Empire. The mountain-allied coalition absorbed the combined magical barrage of eleven through physical stubbornness, and the attack stalled: Draw, 289 VPs each for Dwarfs and Ogres against 226 for the Chaos-Empire pairing.
The satellite fronts delivered a strong haul.
• A T9A Night Raid against Beastmen brought a Solid Victory (520 to 20), the stunted warriors dismantling the herd before the brayherds found their footing.
• A second Night Raid by Beastmen found a Dwarfen patrol overextended and reversed the result: Solid Defeat, 171 to 667.
• A 500-point Exterminate against Beastmen went to the herd: defeat before the line could lock down. Minor Defeat, 65 to 271.
• A TOW Patrol against Ogre Kingdoms had the Dwarfen column refuse to slow: Solid Victory, 699 to 136.
• A 6th Edition Breakthrough against Ogre Kingdoms brought a second entry against the Maw; a Random Night Raid against Ogres a third, the darkness making no difference for fearless warriors. Solid Victory, 553 to 20.
• A TOW Pitched Battle against a Goblins horde commanded by Kiknik Toofsnatcha delivered a Minor Victory (1,121 to 559), the Throng led by Burlok Damminson refusing every charge.
• An 8th Edition Breakthrough against Daemons ended in a Minor Defeat (0 to 754), the warp-spawn driving through before the Dwarfen formation could seal the gap.
The ancestors watch with grim satisfaction as their sons add seven more entries to the books of those who dared try.
The Empire
- Position: #12
- W/D/L: 7/5/13
For Sigmar and the Emperor! But the walls of the realm are leaking, and the patrols are not coming back.
Heldenhammer_ZH marched three times as the Crusader Army ( Empire Army Book) against Bugmans_Father's Dwarfs (Standard army from the 2nd book), and three times the Imperial colours returned stained.
• In the first engagement, the Crusaders pressed with discipline and found the Dwarfen position marginally yielding: Minor Defeat, 496 VPs to 683.
• In the second, the Dwarfs read every Imperial move before it developed and locked down the marker entirely: Solid Defeat, 525 to 878.
• In the third, Heldenhammer_ZH's confidence was broken before the battle began; a changed approach changed nothing: Solid Defeat, 333 to 782.
The Crusaders pressed. The mountain folk refused. That is the week's local story, told in full.
ABadPainter offered the only local relief, fighting in coalition alongside Khorne_Mathias's Hordes of Chaos (alliance synergy −0.18, an uneasy pairing of martial philosophies that undermined the combined effort in practice) in a 1000-point Flank Attack against Ogres and Dwarfs. Despite a combined magical edge of eleven to four, the fractured coalition stalled against the mountain-allied line: Draw, 226 VPs each for Empire and Chaos, 289 each for the Dwarfen-Ogre side. The Church of Sigmar rejects these desperate campaign justifications, and Volkmar himself has dispatched Witch Hunters to conduct a full investigation into this heresy.
On the satellite fronts,
• a T9A Night Raid against Dark Elves was fiercely close: Draw, 545 to 577, neither patrol commander breaking the other.
• A T9A Sheer Heroism! against Ogre Kingdoms sent a special-character-led Imperial force against the Maw's bulk: the Ogres overwhelmed the position for a Solid Defeat, 80 to 813.
The state troops bleed for every inch. The campaign demands sharper generals than the Emperor is currently sending to the field.
High Elves
- Position: #14
- W/D/L: 5/4/9
The Asur stand proud. The horizon stares back without blinking.
WhiteTower_HP led the High Elf Sea Patrol ( Storm of Chaos), a special-character-commanded force of exceptional naval warriors full of Mist Mages, into the week's most controversial engagement. Allied with Clan_Pestilens_Flo's Clan Skryre SAD Skaven (with Doomwheel and many Engineers ) against Nehekhara_Pete's Quatar's Army and Le_Duc_85's Bretonnia (commanded by Sir Cecil Gastonne), the Sea Patrol and the ratmen brought combined magic of thirteen against the defenders' seven. The conspiratorial alliance functioned with brutal efficiency: the Tomb King and Bretonnian position was disassembled beneath a weight of sorcery that neither defender could match. Solid Victory (766 VPs each for the conspiracy, 306 each for those who dared oppose it). The engagement that gave the campaign its name, enacted on the table in full.
The satellite fronts offered a colder picture.
• A TOW Breakthrough against Bretonnia saw the Asur line deny the lance charge for a Minor Victory (696 to 0).
• A TOW 3000-point Pitched Battle where Korhil Lionmane fought against Dark Elves descended into the most bitter of kin-strife across an enormous field: Draw, 1,546 to 1,816, neither faction willing to hand the other a clean victory.
In coalition, allied with Orcs & Goblins in a 3000-point Capture against Beastmen and Hordes of Chaos, the greenskin-elf alliance's inherent dysfunction proved decisive against the Chaos-beastman natural cohesion: Solid Defeat, 294 VPs each against 530 for the victors.
WhiteTower_HP delivered the week's most striking local victory. But the Asur's ladder position tells a different story. The Sea Patrol needs more contracts like this one.
Kislev
- Position: #18
- W/D/L: 0/3/11
The oblast lies open. The armies of the Tzar charge into the cold and find only defeat.
Tzar_Dom committed the full weight of the Ice Queen's available force, a 2000-point Standard Kislev host with Magic 2 and no special characters, into two consecutive Flank Attacks against Druchii_Steff's Dark Elves (SC, Magic 7). The magical gap was five levels. The outcome was predetermined.
• In the first Flank Attack, the Dark Elf sorcerers opened at range before the Kislevite flanking column could develop its sweep. Repeater crossbows followed. By the time the Kislevite horse reached the point of contact, the formation had already been broken: Solid Defeat, 1,050 VPs for Naggaroth, 236 for the Tzar.
• In the second engagement, Tzar_Dom committed more urgently, varied the angle of approach, and sought a faster development. The Dark Elves answered with the same sorcery, the same crossbows, the same clinical efficiency: Solid Defeat, 1,548 VPs to 629.
On the satellite fronts,
• an 8th Edition Capture the Centre against Lizardmen produced a Minor Defeat (638 to 841), the cold-blooded line claiming the objective despite Kislevite resistance.
• A 250-point Exterminate against Dark Elves brought another Minor Defeat (240 to 473).
• In a 6th Edition 2000-point Pitched Battle against Zambula's Skaven, Kislev was broken again, 600 VPs to 1,600, a Solid Defeatthat pushed the oblast deeper into winter.
Kislev ends Week 4 with zero victories from a total of eleven engagements.
The frost bites, and it is Kislev's own hands it claims. The Tzar must answer for this. The Ice Queen demands more than honourable defeat.
Skaven
- Position: #2
- W/D/L: 10/3/2
The Under-Empire endures! Though the summit, for the first time, belongs to another.
The Dark Conspiracy bears the Skaven's name for good reason. Clan_Pestilens_Flo deployed the Clan Skryre (Engineers and a Doomwheel) variant in a 2000-point 2v2 Pitched Battle alongside WhiteTower_HP's High Elf Sea Patrol (full of Mist Mages). Against them stood Nehekhara_Pete's Quatar's Army and Le_Duc_85's Bretonnia (commanded by Sir Cecil Gastonne). Combined arcane weight of thirteen casting dice against four dispel dice. The Skaven warp-lightning and plague-sorcery tore the Tomb King formations apart while the Sea Patrol's enchantments hammered the Bretonnian knights from the opposite flank. Neither defender held: Solid Victory, 766 VPs each for the conspiracy against 306 each for those who dared stand against them. The Under-Empire has never before marched beside the towers of Ulthuan. This week, it did, and it won.
Queek_Swiss fought the second local coalition: a 2000-point 2v2 Pitched Battle with Luccini_Merchant's Dogs of War (the mercenaries and the ratmen watching each other with professional suspicion) against Zambula's Chaos Dwarfs and Settra_Chris's Quatar's Army Tomb Kings. A more balanced contest: both sides brought veteran forces with magic roughly level and neither coalition found a decisive advantage. Hard Draw, 762 VPs each for DoW and Skaven, 703 each for the Dawi-Zharr and eternal dead.
On the satellite fronts,
• a 6th Edition Chosen Objective against Dark Elves demonstrated in full what the new #1 ranking means in practice: Solid Defeat, 20 VPs to 457, the Druchii dominating the objective from first contact.
• A TOW Flank Attack against Bretonnia ended in a Draw (598 to 482), the ratmen and the knights separating without a decisive result.
• Zambula's standard Skaven host crushed Kislev in a 6th Edition 2000-point Pitched Battle, 1,600 to 600, a Solid Victory for the Under-Empire.
• Yet the same commander then tested Clan Moulder against Orcs & Goblins and paid for the experiment: the greenskins overran the rat-ogre pens, 1,600 to 600, handing the ratmen a Solid Defeat.
The Under-Empire will return to the summit. It is only a matter of time-yes, yes.
Tomb Kings
- Position: #9
- W/D/L: 11/7/9
Nehekhara endures. But the sands have been disturbed, and the count of losses mounts.
Nehekhara's Week 4 was built from coalition engagements, and the results wrote the faction's story plainly. Nehekhara_Pete led Quatar's Army (WebGW variant) alongside Le_Duc_85's Bretonnia (commanded by Sir Cecil Gastonne) in the conspiracy's primary target: a 2000-point 2v2 Pitched Battle against the combined force of Clan_Pestilens_Flo's Clan Skryre SAD Skaven (with a Doomwheel and many Engineers) and WhiteTower_HP's High Elf Sea Patrol (full of Mist Mages). Combined arcane force of thirteen casting dice against four dispel dice. The Quatar's Army constructs advanced into a storm of Skaven warp-sorcery and High Elf enchantments that the Tomb Kings' own magic strength could not adequately answer. Bretonnia's flank collapsed under the same barrage. Solid Defeat(306 VPs each for Tomb Kings and Bretonnia, 766 each for the conspiracy).
Settra_Chris commanded the second coalition: Quatar's Army alongside Zambula's Chaos Dwarfs against Luccini_Merchant's Dogs of War and Queek_Swiss's Skaven. A balanced contest, both sides bringing veteran forces with magic roughly level, that ground to a hard Draw: 703 VPs each for Tomb Kings and Chaos Dwarfs, 762 each for Dogs of War and Skaven.
The satellite fronts were a wild swing of triumph and frustration.
• A TOW 3000-point Meeting Engagement against Orcs & Goblins ground across an enormous field to a Draw (1,946 to 1,631), the sheer scale of the engagement exhausting both sides.
• A TOW Meeting Engagement against Orcs & Goblins on the offensive reversed the result: Solid Defeat, 814 to 1,459, the greenskins finally finding their overwhelming form.
• A TOW Night Raid against Chaos Dwarfs was measured and careful: Draw, 434 to 389.
• Against Ogre Kingdoms in a 6th Edition 2000-point Pitched Battle, the full weight of Nehekharan resilience asserted itself: Casket of Souls supported by innumerable hordes of skeletons grinding down a physical Hammer that had no sorcery to match: Solid Victory, 1,723 to 542.
• A TOW Table Quarters against Dogs of War came down to a single marker count: Minor Defeat, 533 to 571, the mercenaries edging it.
The eternal kingdom does not fall. But it gives ground more than it should. Settra will not be pleased with the week's accounting.
Wood Elves
- Position: #13
- W/D/L: 5/6/10
The forest breathes. The breath grows laboured. But Athel Loren has survived worse than this.
The Asrai fought their week scattered across the satellite fronts, and the results were shaped above all by two coalition engagements.
In a TOW Last Stand, the Wood Elves allied with a Tzeentchian Daemonic host, an extraordinary concentration of warp power, against Chaos Dwarfs and Bretonnia. The combined magical weight of seventeen against the defenders' seven was decisive. Despite the Dawi-Zharr and Bretonnian defenders scoring 628 VPs each in kills, testimony to the fierce resistance a Last Stand position can generate, the Daemonic tide broke through the line, and the Wood Elves and Daemons claimed a Solid Victory regardless. In the satellite 1v1 fronts, the week swung.
• A TOW Night Raid against Beastmen saw the herd press hard through forest paths with enough momentum to claim a Minor Defeat (106 to 404), the brayherds unusually effective at close quarters in terrain that should have favoured the Asrai.
• A TOW Capture against Daemons of Tzeentch reversed that logic brutally: the warp-spawn crossed the killing ground and seized the objective before the Wood Elves could prevent it, Solid Defeat, 403 to 696.
• The week's finest single result came in a 6th Edition 4000-point Pitched Battle, commanded by Orion and Ariel themselves, against Orcs & Goblins: the Asrai marshalled a special-character-led host and swept the greenskin horde aside for a Solid Victory, 2,113 to 160. Athel Loren's finest hour of a hard week.
Two victories, two defeats. The forest endures. The roots of Athel Loren drink what they are given.
