In June 2017, Sydney Australia hosted a 2 day Age of Sigmar tournament with custom scenarios. This is my story;

Sydney Slaughter Player Pack

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Game #1, Nurgle’s Garden, Clan Skryre, Dave H.

The Ghyran Guard Stormhost had been acting peculiar around the city of Altdorf over the last few months. The rumours around the Chubby Carriage Arms pointed towards a specific Realmgate deep within the Bihopt Grove, and knowing the Ghyran Guard had involvement with Nurgle. The Grand Theogonist Volkmar would call upon Helmut von Hass and the Sons of Reik to follow the latest Stormcast warband heading into the Realmgate and investigate.

 “Ambush!” cried Folan The Glorious Loremaster.

It was no sooner that Helmut von Hass army stepped from the Realmgate that his Sons of the Reik would be ambushed from ground beneath them. A dying Knight Heraldor stood at the foot of the Realmgate, shot to near death by warpfire, and in his last breath whispered to Helmut to find Sigmar’s crystals. The field around them was unlike anything you would see in Ghyran, full of disease ridden and twisted vegetation. It was disease and instability that provided the filth Skaven with the perfect opportunity to strike.

Arc-Warlock Dave Hurley, the leader of Clan Skryre, lashed out with the unstable yet deadly powers of Warpfire with the half rat-half ogre abomination. Good men died to ensure they never broke our lines to threaten the mages of Altdorf, for they were the key to unlocking the powers of the Terrasvol.

At the peak of the battle, the rat ogre Stormfiends punched through the free people line, coming face to face with the celestial wizard Arwin Fein riding the majestical Celestial Hurricanum. With little chance of the white wizard taking down the giant rats in combat, Helmut von Hass reached into his leather pouch to call upon The Earth Shard and praying to Sigmar that the soil would solidify around the Celestial Hurricanum long enough to call upon the Storm of Shemtek.   

The defeat of the Stormfiends would swing the battle towards Sigmar’s warriors and would finally advance through Nurgle’s muck. Arch-Warlock Dave knowing the battle was lost would scurry into the forest in an attempt to live another day.

Victory: Forces of Order

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Game #2, Slaanesh’s Pleasure Palace, Iron Jaws, Jett G.

Eager to avoid the decay and disease of Nurgle’s Garden, Helmut von Hass’ force would step through the next Realmgate they would find to reappear in a beautiful palace that resembled a grand ballroom. The room is full of decadent treasures that would command a small fortune back in Ghyran, with the highest prize being four marble statues positioned in each corner of the palace.

Helmut von Hass would lead his force towards the closest first marble statue, transfixed by it’s alluring energy. Before he could reach the statue, Helmut would hear a loud crash on the opposite side of the palace. Standing in opposition was a raiding Ironjawz tribe lead by Megaboss Jett Griffiths on a Maw-Krusha.   

Jett was no ordinary Orruk leader. Unlike other Orruk Megabosses, he understood battlefield strategy and attempted to split the Force of Order. The Orruk Brutes would charge down the centre of the battle field, Jett lined up The Carmine Dragon which was the biggest skull he could crush in honour of Gork (or was it Mork?), while the Weirdnob Sharman harnessed the power of Waaagh! to summon a balewind vortex.

Helmut would look to his wizards to fight off the Greenskins, demanding his white wizard Roland Binder shoot down the Weirdnob Sharman with the Luminark Of Hysh searing beam of light, Arwin Fein to call upon the Comets of Cassadora and the Storm of Shemtek to weaken the Ironjawz, while Folan The Glorious Loremaster guided the Carmine Dragon before the enviable clash with the Maw-Krusha.

The Foot of Gork would stomp a mud hole in Helmut’s force, however; the tide would turn when the Carmine Dragon ripped apart the Maw-Krusha as well as the Weirdnob Sharman burning to a crisp by the light of Hysh. Realising it was an impossible feat for the Greenskins to steal all four statues, in another demonstration of the intelligence of Jett’s tribe, their forces would retreat to the furthest statue.

The retreat of the Orruk tribe would allow Helmut von Hass enough time to barter their escape with Slaanesh.

Victory: Forces of Order

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Game #3, Khorne’s Arena, IronJawz, Ashley M.

Escaping the palace may have seemed like a victory for the Forces of Order at first, but Slaanesh would have one final trick up his sleeve, the exit portal that unknown to Helmut von Hass that would lead into Khorne’s Arena.

Standing on a red desert of dried blood within an ancient Colosseum, Helmut took the opportunity to address his troops about the knowledge of the Terrasvol. Helmut would be interrupted mid-speech by Gerwig Schock, captain of the Handgunners, as he points to the third crystal sitting on an altar of Khorne before racing over to remove it from a skull holder.

The removal of the Fire Shard would enrage Khorne, and his displeasure could be heard like a thunderclap throughout the arena. While Helmut’s attention was fixed on the Fire Shard, in the distance of the arena a hoard of Ironjawz would spew forth from a blood portal. These Orruks were not like anything Helmut had encountered in the past. A blood thirsty hoard of Orruks riding wild boars leads by The Fist of Gork himself, Gordrakk McEwan on his rampaging Maw-Krusha.

Gordrakk McEwan capitalised on Helmut’s distraction and charged at full speed screaming warchants in the name of Gork (or was it Mork?). “Hold the Line!” commanded Helmut to his Freeguild Guard. With no exit in sight, the best outcome would be to embrace the charge in old school rank, and file defence then fights through the green wave. The Orruks hit the defensive line with the strength of 10,000 men with wild boars hooves trampling bodies, Orruks furiously swinging big choppas, and deadly attacks from Bigteef.    

What little men standing after the dust had settled from Gordrakk’s charge would attempt to hold up the Orruks long enough for the Celestial Hurricanum and Luminark of Hysh to tap into the Arcane energy that flowed through a golden statue of a Bretonnian champion. In a Burning Rage, The Carmine Dragon would fly straight at Gordrakk and his bodyguard of Ardboyz, ripping bodies apart with it’s amethyst fangs. The blood rage would create a tunnel vision for The Carmine Dragon where it would ignore the Orruk Megaboss and Weirdnob Sharman hiding from combat upon Khorne’s alter.

Ignoring the Megaboss and Weirdnob Sharman would be a costly mistake for Helmut as the Orruk’s continued to beat down his forces. It was unclear why he was surrounded by so much Arcane terrain in an arena which loathed magic, however; he would take his chances with the Winds of Magic with Cassandra Wagner the battlemage summoning an exit portal. What remained his Helmut’s force would retreat in an attempt to see another day.

Victory: Forces of Destruction

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Game #4, Tzeentch’s Crystal Palace, Sylvaneth, Liam B.

Landing hard onto a polished mirrored floor, Helmut quickly released why Cassandra Wagner found it so easy to tap into an Arcane portal; it was corrupted. Tzeentch had set the Arcane trap to lure the mages into his Crystal Labyrinth. The labyrinth was divided into six rooms, each bound by impassable transparent walls, a series of portals which could only assume lead into the other rooms.

Tzeentch had split Helmut’s force between two rooms in an attempt to destroy the mystical synergy. In the distance Folan The Glorious noticed the twisted woods started to spring to life as a defence mechanism to protect the labyrinth. “FIRE” screamed Helmut as he ordered his ranged weaponry to shoot the portal, unclear on what would happen once the shots were fired. The Strategic Genius was befuddled when some of the shots landed on their target while others ended in different rooms.

Furious that an intruder had breached the crystal labyrinth, Liam Durthu called upon his tree folk to surround the humans. Kurthnoth Hunters with a Tree Lord Ancient appeared on the left flank from the wood, Tree Revenants awoke from the rear of the Luminark of Hysh, and Liam Durthu advanced his remaining force. The Luminark of Hysh would be blindsided by the Tree Revenants as they charged in for combat. Shots continued to rain through the portal and spit out randomly throughout the battlefield. The most damaging shots would come from the Branchwitch who took Helmut out of commission with an Arcane Bolt and Liam Durthu’s verdant blast rebounding from the portal and wounding himself.

The fearless Order leader was down injured, and Tzeentch’s portals started to become unstable. With the fear that the portals would start to collapse, the Wizards would band together long enough to ensure a safe passage for The Carmine Dragon, Prosecutors, Great Eagle and Freeguild Guard. The troops would separate across the labyrinth to secure each portal, with The Carmine Dragon wrestling it off a wounded Liam Durthu, Prosecutors over the Tree Revenants, and the Freeguild Guard barely holding it from the Kurnoth Hunters (with a little help from the Storm of Shemtek).

No sooner that Helmut’s troops stepped through the portals that one by one they began to implode. Glass shards sprayed across the battlefield injuring anybody surrounding it. The Crystal Palace was wrapping it’s talons around both forces, however; the combined arcane wisdom between Cassandra Wagner, Arwin Fein, Roland Binder and Folan The Glorious were able to solve Tzeentch’s elaborate puzzle and identify the Realmgate from the fake portals.

Cassandra spent several minutes inspecting the ancient glyphs and four runes adorning its stone façade: ‘Earth’, ‘Air’, ‘Fire’ and ‘Water’. By combining the Shards with the Realmgate runes, Cassandra would activate the portal and lead the force through a golden light to Azyrheim.

Victory: Forces of Order

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Game #5, Sigmaron Fortress of Azyrheim, Chaos, Scott N.

Tzeentch’s Realmgate would lead Helmut’s forces to the outskirts of Sigmaron; Fortress of Azyrheim. With no immediate threat in sight, they would use this time to rest and heal before the final quest to reach the Numinous Occulum. Unknown to Helmut was that he wasn’t the only commander looking to control the Numinous Occulum.

Through the thick of night, a Chaos raiding party would storm Helmut’s camp, determine to stop Helmut securing the Numinous Occulum. Bloodstoker Norwood would direct the Tzaangor Skyfires and flying Stormfiends into the heart of the Order force with a hail of great arrows of fate and warpfire projector shots into the sleeping Carmine Dragon. Brutally wounded but not dead (on a single wound), Helmut would overcharge the Life Shard to restore the Dragon to it’s full potential.  

15 Skyfires would crash into the mortal front line causing havock with their vicious breaks and daemonic discs of Tzeentch. The Freeguild Guard would counter-charge the disc riding bird men in a vain endeavour to protect the wizards. With the Skyfires locked in combat, The Carmine Dragon would charge over the heads of the Skyfires and rip apart the 30 daemon strong Bloodletter unit.

The battle became the tail of two battles where Order looked to wrestle back control from the Skyfires, while Chaos wanted to nullify The Carmine Dragon holding the Numinous Occulum. The Skyfires would break through the Freeguild units and pressure the Wizards into a corner fighting for their life. The Wizards would eventually wipe them out, but it would push them to the brink and force them from challenging for the Numinous Occulum.

In the middle of the battlefield The Carmine Dragon would continue it’s rampage through the Stormfiends, Sayl the Faithless and a large chunk of the Marauders. Alarielle would save the life of the Dragon one more time, but it would come at the price of Helmut succumbing to the Life Shard. The Carmine Dragon’s luck would eventually run out when the remaining Marauders surrounded the red beast and took it down.

Gerwig Schock’s handgunners would advance towards Life Tower and shoot down Khorne’s Bloodsecretor. When the sun had set, both Sigmar and the Chaos Gods took a heavy toll on the battle field, however; the remaining Marauders were given enough time to secure the Numinous Occulum.

Victory: Forces of Chaos