The Outcast Army

Figures slinking through the brush were masked by the darkening sky and cloaks camouflaged with browns and green. The clothing they wore hardly resembled shirts or pants, but seemed to be extensions of the woods themselves. Light did not show the bright fair skin of their elven heritage, it was dimished by mud and concoctions devised specifically to conceal flesh from the eye. They stole from shadow to shadow, unseen to any that were unaware of their presence, even other wood elves, creeping to the bodies of the fallen sylvankind. These fallen wood elves were part of Lord Hannibal’s host. The scouts hoped to find some of the missing men and women alive.

A man stood silent, further back from the scouts, his waywatchers. Black armor of leather sheathed his entire body, a black cloak billowing behind him in the cold sea wind. His dark brown eyes surveyed the scene before him with placidness, the ire that roiled behind them reserved for someone else. Several companies of the forests best archers scattered or fell today, the result of a brilliant charge by a smaller unit of errant knights. The rest of his forces failed to commit or were harried by battlefield confusion. This impart to the misdirection of one Highborn elf. The elf arrived early in the morning, just before the battle and caused havoc among the ranks with regards to the battle plan. Sent by arrogant lords and nobles of Athel Loren to right what they believe Hannibal was wronging. With his crazed machinations for the battle the original plans were shattered as the fighting reered its ugly head. This caused the day to be fought to a draw with Lord Rincewind’s forces, and the death of the Highborn himself.

“I never liked him much anyway,” commented Hannibal as he looked down at the lifeless body of the elf. To the elf lord's credit, he fought and slew a great number of knights, before another contingent ran him down. Hannibal’s black charger pawed the ground beside him, snorting her dissatisfaction. The man’s hand patted the hard flank of the horse. “Easy, this was not our mess, but I am afraid it is now.”

“That is right.” A voice came from behind him. The lighthearted voice of Princess Ilyara felt diminished, burdened with grief, “There is more bad news.”

“To achieve victory the “lords of Athel Loren” needed a much greater victory.” Disgust lined the words as the man spoke. “With such a loss of force we will not hold all of the ground we took, and I am willing to wager the item our illustrious nobles wanted so badly, is not what it appeared to be.”

“Right, right, and right again.” The elven maiden nodded slowly, with still more to come. The man said nothing, letting her speak instead of talking for her as he usually did. The news she needed to tell him next affected everyone that was left in his army and it was hers to bear to him. She took a step closer, her smaller frame dwarfed behind him. ”We are being blamed for this failure. We are outcasts now, unable to return to Athel Loren on pain of death, even hunted by some of our bretheren.” Her voice started to crack, the pain she must feel from all ties being severed from her home and family was something Hannibal was unable to share. He was still a man, and she an elf princess, but he knew she might be lacking in that title for remaining loyal to his army. She said we, Hannibal knew full well it was his burden to bear and rightfully he should let it fall upon him. A smile crossed his lips that she did not see, but he would not let her loyalty go unnoticed.

“Much of our rear forces are intact. They maintain a heavy presence along the forest that is growing. The range of the chaos relic we found did not manage to taint it and our casters concealed the vile magic as best they could. I sent runners to everyone loyal to you to rally there.”

“Princess.” The man interrupted her. She stopped immediately, lowering her head as if to receive more punishing words.

“I am not a Princess anymore,” she said so softly the wind almost carried her words away before Hannibal could hear them.

“Princess Ilyara,” he started again his voice much softer than before. “Are you hurt?” His head turned and he adjusted his body to look back at her. She stared up at him, her silvery eyes shining happily at his effort to show her the respect he knows she deserves.

“I am fine, perfectly fine, my Lord.”

“That makes me very happy,” he said. “I was worried.” With a motion of his hand he indicated the blood of men and elves splattered across the field, and the fallen lord at his feet. His face looked much harder now, his mind set to the mission of survival. He lifted his slightly, and let a smile creep back to his lips. She moved closer and let him embrace her tightly. With a hand he wrapped the cloak around her and started to walk away from the lonely field. It was warm inside the heavy material and she took comfort there, knowing that harder times lie ahead.

A Battle Approaches

This part of the forest was deathly quiet. The hour was late, the moon and stars masked by heavy clouds and the earth pitched into a deep darkness. Through the thick undergrowth and misshapen trees shone the only light. A few torches and small fires surrounded a small clearing. The flicker of the fire cast unsettling shadows from the twisted and bare trees.

Several sentries, undetectable without the keenest eye, kept vigil hidden from view of anyone unlucky enough to stumble upon this place. Their elven hoods were thrown up and bodies camouflaged with pieces of the forest. In the midst of the clearing stood two individuals, one much larger and broad than the first. Beside the tall man stood a heavy black charger, pawing the soft earth anxiously. The smaller woman, an elf, beside him watched the hole carefully.

"I don't like it." the man said at last. "Nothing about the forest feels right, are you sure about this relic?"
"The Spellweaver and lords of the forest seem sure enough. That is good enough for me to come to this place." she replied. "Why, do a few gnarled trees and shadows put you on edge, Lord Hannibal?"
The man clenched his jaw, considering the area around him a moment before replying, "No, they do not, Princess. What might come out of this ground does." He finished speaking and hefted himself up into the saddle of the charger. The princess looked over at him, unwillingly to express unwillingness to remain in this part of the forest alone. It was Mousillon, as the humans called it, and who knows what they might find. It was suppose to be a lost artifact to return to Athel Loren, but she felt, skeptical.
"Going so soon?" she started to say and tried to devise a method to keep him here.
"Yes, any moment your scouts will be coming to tell you Lord Rincewind is preparing for battle." Lord Hannibal indicated with a hand at a figure slipping through trees towards their position.
"Again? These humans are most frustrating, they must breed like orcs!" The princess turned to intercept the elven runner.
"Yes, but if they were orcs they would have killed Lord Rincewind by now, and elected a stronger leader." Hannibal added pointedly. "Unless Lord Rincewind is strong enough to behead them first, and thus remain in power."
Princess Ilyara frowned and was glad they did not have any other such armies to contend with. The scout rushed up to her and knelt.
"My lady, I bring word of an approaching host of Bretonnian knights." the elf finished between breaths.
"Rise my brother and send another to carry the word, we assemble for battle." The princess moved beside Hannibal and shifted into a wolf. The man looked down at her and smirked, "Not staying to watch the dig?" The wolf snarled and rushed off into the forest, followed closely by the black charger.

Warhammer and 40k worlds collide!

There are two battles left in my campaign with Loreseeker, from Rysm Tower, before it comes to a close. I am charged with conjuring up the next juicy tidbit to battle over, so let us hope creativity wins out and we get an interesting theme. My friend also finally reach warpe traversing technology and is delving into the vast universe of Warhammer 40k. A new Space Marine chapter is born in his 901st Grenadiers. I foresee a huge clash coming in the future between his Marines, my Sisters of Battle led by Canoness Pandora, my brothers Dark Elder (who harbor a sort of blood rivalry with my sisters) my younger brothers Eldar (if they are still together), my cousins Imperial Guard armed with their new codex, and my cousin David and his Black Templars. Other smaller regiments of Tau, Space marines, Daemonhunters or Chaos may make their presence known.

My goal for the next few months is to attempt to gather enough forces to me to construct a semi-decent board to play with. Possibly add more terrain to be used in Cityfights or used in general games. The sky is the limit with my ideas, but my skills of organization and motivation are the lead weights that keep me groundside.

Warhammer Wood Elf Additions

Looks like there will be some additions to my Wood Elf army coming next week in celebration of my seventh anniversary. Hopefully I can manage to get 3 more warhawk riders (really dislike the models on the backs, might try to model some Glade Guard on there instead), some dryads, and I will be attempting to model a caster on a horse from some dark elf models, giving my casters a more sinister look to them! I'm not sure how well the mounted spellweaver will work out, maybe it is better to just leave them on foot?

I really dislike how Games Workshop decided to move away from selling Bitz to this awkward set of bitz ordering from the site. It is horrible. Before you could order any piece of any army, make your model with not much hassle and COST to you. Now you need to pay up to buy the entire box set if you want to use some pieces out of them. I modeled a Sister of Battle unit, Saint Celestine with Pegasus wings way back in the day. Now, I would have to buy the entire pegasus knight and just butcher it for the wings! What sense does this make? I can see that Games Workshop might want to save money, or probably they want to increase their revenue more.

GW should not be hurting for business, even with this Recession and talk about it everywhere, they plan to open over 400+ stores in the next few years. I know for a fact they closed down to unsuccessful ones around the Northern VA, MD area. They do put out quite a few new books, design new models, and run a very good gaming system that many people enjoy. I guess if the prices were too demanding, then people would stop buying them. That has not happened yet so I guess the price is still right. I will never be happy with losing the ability to order bitz!

While I'm grumbling, give me an updated Witchhunter Codex and Daemonhunters! And new models! And since you want to not allow us access to precious bitz, make a wood elf mounted caster model!!!

The Forces of Athel Loren Defend their Waystone

Celebration at the Waystone! Victory for the Elves and the Forest!



Lord Hannibal's Wood Elves effectively defended their Waystone from the Bretonnian forces. With this second victory the fey forces will negate the -1 tree terrain pieces that Mousillon afforded Lord Rincewind's armies. The Wood Elves now are well inside the boundries of Mousillon and will need a serious effort to uproot them from their position of power.


Campaign Key
D-Draw -10pts
MV- Marginal Victory-15pts
SV-Solid Victory 20pts
M-Massacre 30pts
Current Campaign states are:
Battles fought: 2
Wood Elves: 1 MV, 1 M - 45 pts
Bretonnians: 0 0 pts


-Picture

-Battle Summary- Posted here by Rysm!

http://loreseeker.blogspot.com/2009/04/forces-of-loren-prevail.html



The Loren Waystone - Newest Mousillon Landmark

The successful defense of the newly erected Loren Waystone has ensured the elves of the forest are able to readily call upon the power of the forest. The rolling farmland and pastures that once covered this muddy landscape are now populated with the beginnings of a woodland. Many refugees fled before the coming battle, and those so dedicated to defending their land have either fled at the routing of Lord Rincewind's army, been conscripted to their own militia forces or slain for failing to yeild to the lands newest masters. As the wood elves gaze out upon the rolling fields they wonder what Mousillon has left to offer, and if the swine and cattle left behind is edible by elven standards.

More to follow