The Gates of Kislev: deployment and turn 1 (english version)

Greetings,

here it is, as promised, the English version of the battle report: Deployment and Turn 1.
Enjoy!

If you want to read Turn 2, click here.

Deployment

The sun had risen few hours before, but dark supernatural clouds dimmed its light, like a foreshadowing of what had to come. In the walls, the Kislevites moved nervously, as for the Chaos army had not stopped bombing the city walls all night and they were beginning to give way. Suddenly, a ray of light penetrated the ominous clouds and the Kislevites saw a halo of hope on the horizon. The army of Magnus the Pious arrived at Kislev just as the troops of Asavar Kul breached the wall. No Imperial soldier had ever seen an army as coarse and fearsome as the one on the other side of the plain. Creatures of immense size and strange beasts stained by Chaos bathed the horizon. But among those ranks there were not only monsters, but hordes of Chaos Marauders, Warriors of Chaos, Beastmen chariots and leaders of immense power.

But Magnus also had his resources. His hometown, Nuln, had provided the rest of the provinces with numerous war machines. And Steam Tanks, no less than seven of these old machines that were created by Leonardo da Miragliano few decades before, were still in operation and could become a great help. Also, the city of Marienburg hired mercenaries from Tilea and a team of engineers who tried to reproduce a Steam Tank on the shell of a small ship.

Even so, the best reinforcements did not come from the south, but from the east, beyond the sea. A host of High Elves commanded by Teclis met Magnus to help the humans. Especially in relation to magic, a practice that was forbidden at that time in some places.

Unfortunately, not many days before, many of his cavalry troops had gone to Praag and Magnus was not sure if they would arrive in time for the battle. They were led by the Ar-Ulrik Kriestov and supported by Yrtle, one of the Asur wizards.

As a skillful strategist, Asavar Kul quickly reorganized his army to face the new menace. However, the troops of Khorne, under the command of Arbaal the Undefeated, were too eager to penetrate the city and many did not even noticed the arrival of the human reinforcements. Kul placed his best troops in the center: hordes of Warriors and Knights of Chaos, two War Mammoths, two Chaos Dragons and a powerful Emperor Dragon. He placed himself among them to make sure his orders were carried out with scrupulous discipline.

The cool breeze of the Kislevite steppes seemed to stop at that moment under the weight of the silence: a silence that is impossible to describe. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind cut the air and, afterwards, the battle that would decide the fate of the Old World began.

Magnus the Pious

Asavar Kul the Anointed

East flank. Arbaal is under the left wing of An'ggrath

Lord of Chaos Tarok riding Angkor "who he carries the world upon his back"

Cigor, Giant and Gorgon. Three enormous criatures but eight arms!

What named the battle: The Gates of Kislev

Beastmen were the first trying to take the walls. They were also the first to fall down.

Giant triad between the Beastmen host

I love this picture. Balaal riding a Chaos Emperor Dragon, flying out. In front and besides him, two ordinary Chaos Dragons. On the right, Kul's battle standardbearer. And behind the Hellcannon, three hanged imperial soldiers.

As good students we were, we finished the gameboard and room decoration just a few hours before starting to deploy. I can ensure you that this was not due to laziness; We were working hard during months, but there are always setbacks to resolve. The biggest problem was that one of Team Kul members, Marc, could not come because of work issues and because recently he started to work abroad, so for him there was no possibility to come just for a weekend. Luckily, he was able to send us his Beastmen models through a friend (thanks Joel!). Finally we decided to move Diosko to the Team Kul (and giving to him the correponding shirt), so teams became paired: three vs three.

Chaos deployment (from east to west)

Chaos East flank

Kholek Suneater, two hordes of Chaos Marauders and Skullcrushers

30 Chaos Knights. Behind them, two Warriors of Chaos hordes with Kul beside them

Angkor and the Beastmen army. Nurgle Flies on the back were used as Skullcrushers, just removing Frenzy and adding Hover special rules.

More Beastmen, another War Mammoth and three giants

West flank of Chaos army

Empire deployment (from east to west)

Alriksson's Dwarves under the shadow of the mighty zeppelin

Handgunners over the moat were told off by their captain to be there and were relocated

The large Demigryph Knights unit and beside them, Knights of the Griffon Order (don't confuse it!) with Magnus leading them

Center of the army with troops mainly from Middenland and Ostermark

Some characters to put yet. In the center, the Great War Altar of Sigmar. 120 Flagellants there... 

Wizards and Wich Hunters searching their place in the world

Seems this bridge is strong enough...

...¡let's put a tank over there!

Landship captain thinking about to drive or to sail

Note: after taking these pictures, some units were relocated, so if you see any strange movement, this is the reason. In the diagrams, units are already correctly placed. Sorry if some names of special rules are incorrectly translated, I do not have the English rulebook here and maybe some words do not match.

So, finally we made up these two teams: 

Team Magnus 

• Arnau: Empire West flank, leaded by Reikland Elector Count; High Elf host leaded by Teclis; and cavalry army leaded by the Ar-Ulrik Kriestov
• Pep: Empire center leaded by Magnus the Pious and some Elector Counts
• Kratos: Empire East flank leaded by two Elector Counts; Defenders of Kislev leaded by Zar Alexander and the High King Alriksson 

Team Kul 

• Jordi: West flank leaded by Engra Deathsword ans a Beastlord
• Diosko: Chaos Center leaded by Asavar Kul 
• Rogers: East flank leaded by Arbaal the Undefeated

I will explain the battle from the cardinal points of view (east-west), corresponding to the right-left flank of each army. The city of Kislev is in the east (right of the map) and the mountains with the canyon in the west (left of the map).

We needed about four hours to deploy all units and leave the battle ready for the next day. The deployment was mostly followed by the story background. That means all the Nurgle troops were together, as well as all the troops from Ostermark, and so on. However, although we already did some calculations, the deployment area was smaller than we expected, so we had to tighten the rows a little bit more. Anyway, since we wanted to leave a realistic deployment and to have some kind of logic in the distance between both armies, we left about 28 "(70cm) between them, instead of the usual 24".

Key:

Team Magnus 

• War machines
• C: Cannon
• L: High Elf bolthrower
• M: Mortar
• O: Halfling hot pot
• S: Helblaster volley gun

• Units
• A: Halberdiers
• Arc: Handgunners
• Arq: Archers
• Ball: Crossbowmen
• Bat: Outriders
• Cab: Knights
• Comehombres: Maneaters
• E: Swordsmen
• F: Flagellants
• GE: Greatswords
• G. Teutóg: Teutogen Guard
• Herr: Pistoliers
• L: Spearmen
• M.esp.: High elf Swordmasters
• Semigrifos: Demigryph Knights
• Y.Plat: High Elf Silver Helmets

• Individual models
• Ag: High Elf Giant Eagle
• Barco M: Landship Marienburg Class
• C: High Elf Lion Chariot
• Carruaje: Empire War Wagon
• Gr: Hero on Griffon
• HS: Hero on Giant Demigryph
• P: Hero on Pegasus
• T: Steam Tank

Team Kul

• Units
• Cab: Chaos Knights
• Fur: Furies
• jinetes: Chaos Marauders Horsemen
• mast: Chaos Warhounds
• mast. K: Khorne Hounds
• pútridos: Putrid Blightknights

• Individual models
• An'ggrath: An'ggrath, Lord of Bloodthirsters
• Arb: Arbaal the Undefeated
• C: Chaos chariot
• C HB: Beastmen chariot
• Cañ: Skullcannon
• D: Chaos lord on Dragon
• D. Emp: Balaal, Chaos Lord on Chaos Emperor dragon
• DA: Bloodthirster
• E: Spawn
• G: Giant
• G.I: Great Unclean One
• GS: Keeper of Secrets
• HC: Chaos Exalted Hero
• HK: Herald of Khorne
• HT: Tzeentch Sorcerer Lord
• HS: Slaanesh Exalted Hero
• PB: Battle Standard Bearer
• PD: Demon Prince
• O: Ogre Bruiser
• Q: Chimera
• Scy: Scyla Anfingrimm
• Shg: Shaggoth
• ST: Lord of Change
• T: Caos Shrine
• TC: Khorne Skull Throne

Arnau smiles thinking on firing that War Mammoth with dozens of Cannons

A panoramic view behind the "security" of Kislev

Turn 1 

Team Kul

And then Asavar kul ordered the attack. Thousands of warriors march against the human forces. Suddenly, it could be heard a terrifying roar which shake the reality itself. An'ggrath, finally knocked down part of the city walls and penetrated into kislev. Arbaal the Undefeated, for his side, decides to focus his forces against the imperial troops placed outside the walls, well flanked by two Great Demons of Khorne.

At the center of the battlefield, the forces of Chaos marched while the wizards of Tzeentch throw bright lightnings against the enemies causing panic and death into the imperial lines. Also, the Hellcannons open fire against the Magnus Army, even Kholek used his powers over the blizzards and throw this energy over the Steam Tanks.  

On the west, Engra Deathsword had more troubles reorganizing his numerous troops. Such was the space between his troops that they can’t advance properly, and if that was not enough, his explorers warned him that an imperial cavalry force was coming quickly from Praag. To avoid a battle in two fronts, Engra sent some Chaos Trolls to protect the path of the Watchtower, sited at his west flank, while all his other troops would cross the river. The imperial forces defended the bridge, but the Lord of Chaos was trusted in crossing the river whatever it cost. 

  

....

Knowing one of the most dangerous threads from the Empire were their war machines, Team Kul moved forward. It was dozens of Cannons, Steam Tanks and Mortars, so they hadn’t any possibility to hide the biggest and most important targets. We only had the flying units such as Chimeras and Furies to reduce the imperial shooting phase.

In the west, Chaos Trolls were placed next the watchtower, behind a Chaos Hounds unit, in order to stop the Kriestov’s cavalry regiments before they charge the west flank of the Chaos army.

Into Kislev, An’ggrath was the first to enter the city while the rest of the Khorne troops were divided between those assaulting the city and those advancing against the East flank of the Imperial army.

Team Kul Movement and Shooting phase 

West flank. The river, watchtower and mountains were estrategic elements to take into account

Engra Deathsword with his Chosen guard at the center of the picture

Nice battlefront

Chaos hounds flees to the stench of Chaos Trolls

An'ggrath knocking the door

Red backdrop was not intentional, but predicted a good day for Khorne

May you ask how demons could surpass the moat: just walking over the corpses of beastmen casualties. As Khorne demands

During the magic phase the only successful spell was the Fire Blizzard of Tzeentch over the Flagelants causing 18 casualties. The rest of the magic pool dice (30 dices against 21) was dispelled. The Shooting phase obviously was very short, but a Hellcannon successfully impact over an horde of 60 Spearmen from Ostermark with a Sigmar Priest and a Witch Hunter inside. Only one soldier died, but it forces the rest to take a panic test with a -1 to Leadership (due to the Hellcannon special rules) and they failed it. They fled from the battlefield, forcing panic tests to others units, which they surpass. Ultimately, Kholek Suneater fired a lightning over a Steam Tank achieving two wounds.

Now thery are here...

...now not.

Turn 1

Team Magnus

Over the past few months Magnus proved excellent leadership skills. Now he wanted to show that his expertise in military strategy was not minor. He knew his men could not withstand the overwhelming charge of the beasts from the chaos wastes, so he sent the Steam Tanks to the front line and kept the rest of his army behind them. The goal was to fire the artillery as long as possible, imploring Sigmar that when the tide of Chaos arrive to the front line it would be a bit reduced.

Maybe Sigmar heard his words that day or perhaps the engineers of his hometown, Nuln, took their work very seriously, but the truth is that, for once, the guns worked perfectly. The roar was deafening; dozens of Great Cannons, Mortars and Steam Tanks fired at once against the Kul horde. When the dust vanished, cheers of joy began to emerge among the ranks of the Imperial soldiers. Many beasts had fallen, and many others received serious punishment. Among them layed Kholek, the legendary Dragon Ogre, who even didn't reach close combat.

From Kislev men and dwarves also targeted the most powerful monsters. An'ggrath was wounded by the Dwarf zeppelin who plough through the sky over the city. On the walls, a Dwarf Engineer helped Kislevite crews to fire their war machines, and they also achieved great success. The ranks of Khorne demons were severely decimated, but that did not seem to affect in the least their advance.

On the western flank, on the other hand, Magnus's troops gave their hearts a twist. Beyond the river, on the road to Praag, they heard the earth tremble under a cavalry charge. To their surprise, the Ar-Ulrik Kriestov's cavalry army loomed through the gorge just at time, approaching the battle in a hurry and surprising, once again, Kul's army. The sorcerer High Elf who accompanied them hastily conjured a pair of spells that caused the first casualties among the closest enemies. Although that speed had a high cost; unable to concentrate with sufficient foresight, it caused a couple of small explosions casting his spells that wounded the Elf himself and killed some of his Kislevite allies.

......

It was clear that Team Magnus, true to his mind, had a plan. They pushed all their Steam Tanks to the front while the rest of the army awaited. It proved a right decision and also the scenario was perfect for that strategy: that 4 additional inches between armies were significant. Movement phase finished with some rapid units (Outriders, Pistoliers and Gryphons) taking better strategic points (better for the whole army, of course, not for themselves!)

Team Magnus Movement phase 

Maybe too much brave those Steam Tanks...

Aerel view of Kislev. Kratos moved dwarf zeppelin to a better shooting angle

As we said before, outriders helped his comrades

On the western flank, most of units advanced forward, both Magnus’ troops (Maneaters, Reiskguard, Halberdiers, Spearmen, Landship…) and Kriestov’s. The latter divided theirselves in two hosts, just to went around the watch tower on the hill. Winged Lancers, Knights of the White Wolf and a Captain on Pegasus advanced for the north way while Ungol Riders, Kriestov and the High Elf Mage did it close to the river.

On the magic phase Team Magnus obtained some pretty decent results, thanks to the High Elves wizards. Yrtle, the Archmage on horse, who accompanied Kriestov, threw a Chain Lightning to a Spawn, killing him instantly and bouncing against a Tzeentch Exalted Hero, who also passed away. The subsequent panic checks caused the flight of Knights of Nurgle unit, who was about to leave the table. It should be added that this mage suffered not one, but TWO magic miscasts in the same turn. And he was still alive! The Ungols by his side did not take it very well, seeing some of his comrades dying.

Kriestov army arriving on the battle

Finreir, located in front of the walls of Kislev, launched Banishment to Khorne Demons, but was dispersed, as were the powerful spells casted by Teclis. Then they successifully cast the Casandora Comet that they located in front of the Hellcannons, and an Net of Amyntok on the first Chaos Marauders unit.

And then they unleashed hell. More than 25 guns opened fire against the chaotic ranks at the same time. Only one got problems. None exploded. That was the best time to take advantage of the Imperial firepower (no unit was in combat and therefore all targets could be choosed) and they did it well. Only on that turn they killed Kholek, the Great Unclean One, a Bloodthirster (another was left with a single wound), a Giant, a Garragor, three Chaos Knights, and one of the War Mammoths remains on the battlefiled with only two wounds (from twelve!), in addition to other chariots and monsters that took several wounds. It was very clear that if Team Kul wanted to have any chance, they would have to tighten the pace.

Team Magnus Magic, Shooting and Combat phase 

Streltsi prepare themselves to face the Daemons who breached the wall

Just above their heads, the Kislevite Cannon does the same

And Kholek fall down... this casualty at the very first turn was specially sad

Good life flying in the sky, even if your a Dwarf!

Enjoying the panoramic view

This one, specifically

"Hey, do you think a Landship could sail?"

"Go for it!"

So, we'll see what happens in the next turn!