Excerpt from the Journal of Gunther Fromm, Engineer of the Empire
A fortnight after the festival of Hexenstag, our column rejoined with remnants of the other bannermen, and I was paired with a mortar crew and the crew of a volley gun. I was much comforted by the presence of a prestigious lecturer in the College of the Celestial Order in the battle line. The men no doubt had more faith in the two columns of knights and the shirtless folk-hero named Valten that seems to inspire them so-though to me he seems no more than a milkmaid's son from the village of Lachenbad. I had been worried because other forces had been ambushed and wiped out by marauding ratmen. I long for the days when legends of Kavzar and ruined men who scurry in the night were all that were to the menace known as Skaven, rather than the reality facing our good Emperor's forces these days.
Painting of Gunther Fromm, Engineer second-class.
We had word from our huntsmen scouts that an army approached. I took a position on a hill and used my spyglass, ably reporting the movements of their column to young Bernhard, the powder-bearer for the mortar crew, whose pen dashed off missives for our commanding officers.
What I saw amazed me. As I watched, I saw that the columns that pressed toward us in the darkening light of dusk were indeed composed of walking, breathing rats the size and shape of men. With them they carried all manner of horrid equipment, including two strange wheeled catapults and an enormous catapult that had a censer dangling from the crossbar rather than the usual arm and cantilever.
As I watched, I saw a discussion between two of the strange ratmen. It appeared as if the one on the right was in charge, as he had an air of command that the other rats surrounding seemed to respect. The second one was much more reserved. Once, when the commander turned around, I thought that the second might pounce and try to destroy him--the look of burning hatred seemed so strong for nominally cooperative leaders.
It was not long before the lines were drawn and the forces faced off. I counseled the mortar and hellblaster team to observe care, not knowing what the ratmen's intentions might be. As our line faced off against theirs, I saw that they outnumbered us on foot--but our units of sturdy horsemen and two of the Empire's most mighty Steam Tanks should be more than enough to rout these cruel creatures.
Elsewhere the battle fared poorly at first. The company we jokingly call "the Golden Boys" engaged a group of hooded Skaven who were pulling the large censer structure. Gouts of poison gas started to consume and slay them, their armor doing nothing. Finally, their resolve broke and they too fled the field, cut down by the pursuing ratmen.
I too had a moment of cowardice. The earth shook beneath our feet, and up from the ground emerged two Skaven with an enormous drilling device. They were followed by a small group of black-cloaked ratmen, who started to charge right at me. I fled, and managed to out pace them--allowing the halberdiers and Valten the ability to charge instead.
While Valten and the rank-and-file pride of the Empire triumphed over the small unit of rats, they were caught by the same group of hooded rats and their now-burning and swinging censer contraption. While Valten was able to slay the cruel mockery of a priest astride the strange wheeled structure, his unit was overwhelmed and fled--with them and their heroic peasant hero crushed in their failed attempt to escape.
I looked around and I saw that it was only me, one Steam Tank, and the lecturer from the College of the Celestial Order that was left. Meanwhile, the ratmen were parading around victorious, their massive units threatening us on all sides. I saw their leader, the grey horned ratman, gloating as he stood beside the halberdiers as they were being butchered. My only thought was vengeance. If we were going to be wiped out, I wouldn't go without a fight. Even to this day, I'm not sure why I did, but I charged across the field into the face of the strange Seer.
At first I didn't even know what to do. As I charged, he fired a strange pistol at me that discharged like a crack of thunder with a puff of green smoke. Mercifully the shot went wide. I reached him, and swung the butt of my handgun at him. The nimble creature ducked, and answered back with a swipe of scratching claws that missed my face too close for comfort. I think it was the shock of my charge that made him panic, and in the confusion he turned to flee. Seeing my opening I chased after--and smashed his brains in with another swing of the wooden stock.
With a roar of satisfaction at downing the general of their army, I rushed onward. Nearly forgetting the numbers. I came smack dab into a massive melee where nearly sixty five skaven were trying to pry their way through the hatch of the steam tank. I noticed that the other seeming leader of the Skaven had cast spells on his own troops, spells that made them fight with reckless abandon--though I saw many Skaven killed by what I can only describe as "over-exertion" from the heights of rage that the magic caused in them.
As I charged into the side of the forces, the tank grumbled to life and managed to crush a number of them under its wheels. For my trouble, one of the hooded ratmen slashed my side with a cruel knife--it still hasn't healed fully, and I worry at night about the awful boils on the ratman's hands appearing on my skin. Yet I answered that slash with another swing of my handgun, again the stock holding and crushing the ratman's skull. I do not know why, but somehow my solitary charge into the side of the huge line of Skaven was enough to cause their morale to waver. Both that group, and a group of more heavily armored Skaven broke from the combat and fled from my and the Steam Tank.
I don't know if I was emboldened by my success, or feverish from the cut in my side from the plagued ratman's knife, but I continued to rush the lines of fleeing ratmen. I managed to chase both units from the field, their order disintegrating as they fled. I grabbed the standard of the hooded ratmen that had run before me, and brandished it wildly in a sign of daring and aggression.
I turned and saw more Skaven, a team of two bearing a crude device with a nozzle. We learned about the dangers of using weapons reliant upon open flames in Engineer College in Nuln, but that kind of worry was forgotten at that moment. The team fired off a gout of the flame, which scorched a track in the ground all the way to merely a step before where I stood. I could feel the heat of the flames, and resolved to end this menace if I could. I rushed at them, waving the standard above me. They fired once more as I charged, this time the flames sailing just over my head and behind me as I ran. I reached them, and again attacked. The captured standard I bore was bulky, and I failed to injure them. Yet the surprise of me charging them was enough to turn them to flee--leaving them at the mercy of my strikes as I followed.
I stopped, panting and out of breath after killing them. I had slain four ratmen, and chased countless others from the field. The Steam Tank had ground down the other unit of hooded rats, leaving only their censer contraption--now without a crew--standing in the center of the battlefield. I looked to our right flank, and there saw another large mob of ratmen. They were led by that second-in-command, and their insignia bore the same colors and shapes as he did. I got the distinct impression that all the slain ratmen were followers of the magus whose horned head I first clubbed open with my handgun to begin my ordeal.
The rat second-in-command had fur tinged with blue highlights, and for a moment I was afraid he would shatter the air with magical energy and strike me down. Yet he smiled and chittered something strange to his ranked unit of ratmen, and they did nothing. The Steam Tank and the Celestial Wizard were far away, and I was left staring at these remaining rats as we and they both quit the field. I got the distinct impression that the blue rat was pleased with me, that I somehow did him a favor. His odd "smile" at me is the last I remember seeing of him, and there are evenings when the glow of the fire makes me gasp--afraid it's his two glowing eyes and that smile again.
-- Gunther Fromm, Engineer of the Empire
Gaming Notes
That's the basics of my most recent 2,500 points game. A single Empire Engineer proved to be the critical factor in the complete crumbling of my Skaven army. After turn one, both I and my foe thought the handwriting was on the wall--critical units decimated and fled, the whole of center of the Empire battle line removed, etc. Never count out a force, or rather never count on the ability of Skaven to not completely freak out and flee the field. The game ended in a draw, with the Empire technically up by 36 points.
I managed to paint four more models for the game, so I'll share those here (rather than at the start where I usually do):
Grey Seer Morspark
This is a very old Skaven model, one that I truly adored and nabbed on Ebay to add to my force. He's armed with a warplock pistol, and I love the ability to still take one through the Skaven scrap heap choices. I added him in mostly because I wanted to paint him, but also to try out dual-Seer lists. This game they had every one of the Skaven Spells of Ruin on the table, which was fun. He'll be a fun option for telling stories of intrigue. No doubt he's going to wake up with clotted blood in his fur from a bashed head, and plot revenge on the Empire and The Blue Rat who convinced him to leap ahead and personally blast the foes at close range.
More progress on the Stormvermin: I added the command to the unit, tho they still need their bases painted and eyes dotted. These are some of my favorites to paint I'm finding, so I wouldn't be surprised if my stormvermin unit is one of the first 30-rat units I finish painting.
Fully Painted Models
Skaven: 74
Dwarfs: 41
Battles
Total 2015: 5 (Win/Loss/Tie: 2/2/1)
Total 2014: 15 (Win/Loss/Tie: 8/6/1)
Skaven:
4 Wins (Empire 1, T&T Daemons and Dwarfs, Siege Dwarfs and Bretonnians, T&T Daemons and Empire)
6 Losses (Empire 1, Dwarfs 1, Daemons 1, T&T Daemons 1, T&T Dwarfs 1, Special Game Nurgle)
1 Tie (Empire 1)
Dwarfs:
4 Wins (Dwarfs 2, Wood Elves 2)
1 Loss (Dark Elves 1)
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