War Room: A Dark Conspiracy – The Siege of Nagronath I

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After a few weeks of preparation, we finally have news about the Final Battle of Nagronath.

And yes, the wait will be worth it.

First, let us look at the final scoreboard of the campaign:

If one of the Defenders had won the campaign, the Final Battle would have been easy to arrange: the Lizardmen and the strongest attacking factions would have marched together against the fortress. But after 1,014 battles, the players decided something far more interesting.

The Dark Elves won the campaign.

That means the Jade Staff is now in Druchii hands.

At first, this should have been a triumph for the Slann. The Dark Elves were part of the attacking alliance, and the prize was meant to be returned to Lord Mazdamundi. Word has now reached Lustria that the relic has been found.

But there is a problem.

The Druchii are not returning it.

Instead, they have claimed the Jade Staff for themselves.

Even cold blood can boil when given good reason. Lord Mazdamundi is gathering an immense host of Lizardmen, Amazons and mercenaries to recover what belongs to the Slann. The old alliance has shattered, and the Siege of Nagronath will now decide whether the Jade Staff remains in Druchii hands or is restored to its rightful masters.

Old alliances, new betrayals

The original campaign standings gave us this situation at the top of the board:

  1. Dark Elves
  2. Skaven
  3. Hordes of Chaos
  4. Lizardmen
  5. Daemons of Chaos
  6. Vampire Counts

If the Skaven had won the campaign, things would have been simple. The Lizardmen, Dark Elves and Hordes of Chaos would have invaded them, with other powerful factions joining the final assault. It would have been an unholy alliance, but at least a clear one.

But the Druchii won.

So we had to ask the real question:

Who fights whom now?

The easiest answer would have been to swap the Lizardmen and the Skaven. The Skaven join the bad guys, the Lizardmen return to the forces of Order, and we get a clean 3vs3 battle:

Defenders of Nagronath

  1. Dark Elves
  2. Skaven
  3. Hordes of Chaos

Reclaimers of Mazdamundi

  1. Lizardmen
  2. High Elves
  3. Tomb Kings

This would have worked.

But it did not feel fair.

The Daemons and Vampire Counts had both earned strong positions in the campaign, and leaving them out felt wrong. Some players argued that Daemons and Hordes of Chaos should be treated as part of the same dark tide. Others argued that they had fought separately, earned their places separately, and deserved to stand on the final battlefield.

Then came the practical discussions. Should the battle be 5,000 points per side? Should the leaders get 2,000 points each and the allies 1,500? Would Mazdamundi even fit properly into a 2,000 point army? Would 3,000 + 1,000 + 1,000 work better?

After much debate, one solution became obvious.

If the original plan was an epic 3vs3 siege, then the Final Battle should be even bigger.

Not 10,000 points on the table.

20,000 points.

The Final Battle

The Siege of Nagronath will be a face-to-face 5vs5 battle, with 10,000 points per side.

Defenders of Nagronath

  1. Dark Elves (4,000 pts)
  2. Skaven (2,500 pts)
  3. Hordes of Chaos (2,000 pts)
  4. Daemons of Chaos (1,000 pts)
  5. Vampire Counts (500 pts)

Total: 10,000 pts

Reclaimers of Mazdamundi

  1. Lizardmen (4,000 pts)
  2. High Elves (2,500 pts)
  3. Tomb Kings (2,000 pts)
  4. Dwarfs (1,000 pts)
  5. Wood Elves (500 pts)

Total: 10,000 pts

Note: Although the Wood Elves finished #9 and the Dwarfs #10, the players agreed to swap their point slots. They insist this is a strategic optimisation that will make sense later. As campaign organiser, I am tired of arguing. Everyone agreed, so we will make it work in the lore.

What we know so far

  • This will be the largest battle we have ever played.
  • It will also be long, complex and gloriously messy. Five armies fighting beside five other armies means this is not just a big game. It is a logistical monster. It will take days.
  • We will use the multiplayer rules from The General’s Compendium (2003), including their implications for leadership, terror and allied armies fighting side by side.
  • Since the battle takes place in Albion, we are preparing a custom battlefield inspired by the terrain from A Dark Shadow (2004).
  • The battlefield itself should be as treacherous as the armies fighting over it. Expect mud, forests, broken ground and unpleasant surprises.
  • The aim is to encourage skirmishes, ambushes and dirty fighting, rather than letting the battle become an automatic cavalry charge, chariot rush or shooting gallery. Even a wizard needs line of sight sometimes.

Deployment and turn order

Deployment will be decisive.

  • Each player must deploy their own army more or less together, without spreading across the entire allied battleline or invading another player’s space.
  • The Dark Elves will deploy first. They are the defenders of Nagronath. They chose the ground. They prepared the fortress. They know where the traps are.
  • The Lizardmen will deploy second. This small advantage helps compensate for the fact that everyone already knows a major part of their army: Lord Mazdamundi is mandatory.
  • After that, deployment will continue between the remaining allied factions.

For the turn sequence:

  1. Both sides roll to decide who goes first.
  2. The first player on that side takes their movement phase.
  3. The next allied player then takes their phase.
  4. Once the whole side has completed its turn, the opposing side begins.
  • Each player generates and uses their own dispel dice. There will be no sharing of dispel pools across allied armies.
  • The players are already building lists, buying last-minute models, discussing strategies and making terrible promises.

Next week, we will reveal the full scenario rules.

For now, the armies gather.

The Siege of Nagronath is coming.

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