Age of Sigmar - Clash at Gloomy Crest

Ulgu, the Realm of Shadow

On the Isle of Scyie, in the Outter Shadrac Sea, stands a small fortress temple of the Hagg Nar: the Temple of Spraig. The remote outpost is all that remained from a group of communities that existed there in the Age of Myth. 

At one time there had been a bustling city build around a Realmgate to Azyr itself. Just down the road on the coast  with it there had been a large and very busy port. A number of other outlying communities dotted the coastline - mostly fishing villages. Much of the original population fled to Azyr at the dawn of the Age of Chaos, before the Realmgate was closed. The rest of the population - other than the guardians of the temple - drifted away to other cities; mostly to nearby Misthåven and Hagg Nar. 

For centuries, the outpost temple of the Daughters of Khaine is all that stood against incursions of the daemons and other adherents of the Chaos gods. For some time it has been quiet, but since the beginning of the Realmgate Wars, the Chaos incursions have increased again, as though it was expected that the old Realmgate to Azyr would re-open. 

Led by a Knight-Questor of the Hammers of Sigmar, a small force of Stormcast Eternals have been sent to the island to determine if it would be an acceptable location for a new City of Sigmar. Joining the Knight Questor was Severin Steelheart and Averon Stormsire (before misfortune befell them both, trapping them in the eternal city of Shadespire!) 

As they arrived and were attempting to rebuild some basic fortifications around the old site of the Realmgate they were almost immediately assaulted by a host of Daemons of Slaanesh. The Stormhost made their stand at a height of land they dubbed: "Gloomy Crest"...

(though they would soon discover EVERY place on the isle - indeed all of Ulgu, the Realm of Shadow - is pretty darned gloomy!) 

Thus begins our first Paths to Glory campaign! 

Finnegan is starting off with a Stormcast Eternals force of the Hammers of Sigmar...

Erymas’ Stormhost

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals

Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar

Mortal Realm: Azyr 

Current Quest: Defend Your Realm 

LEADERS

• Knight-Questor Erymas (110) - General - God-Forged Blade, We Cannot Fail
• Averon Stormsire (280) - Chain Lightning

UNITS

• 3 x Steelheart's Champions (110) - Severin Steelheart, Obryn the Bold, Angharad Brightshield
• 2 x Stormsire's Cursebreakers (0) - Ammis, Rastus
• 3 x Castigators (75) - Atymnius, Marius, Throsymelus

TOTAL: 575 points

Territories:

• Arcane Waypoint

Glory: 5

I'm starting out with a host of Slaanesh Daemons

Howlthrob's Host

Allegiance: Slaanesh

Host: Godseekers Host

Mortal Realm: Ulgu

Current Quest: Master Magical Lore 

LEADERS

• Howlthrob the Quivering Doom Snare (Aogzemmp'ptzhoe), Viceleader, Herald of Slaanesh (140) - General - Speedchaser, Enrapturing Circlet, Born of Damnation

UNITS

• 10 x Daemonettes (140) - the Luxurious Lavendrines
• 10 x Daemonettes (140) - Viridians of Vice
• 5 x Seekers (140) - Seekers of Sin

TOTAL: 560 points

Territories:

• Arcane Waypoint

Vault:

• Warscroll Battalion: Epicurean Revellers

Glory: 5

SCENARIO

We played the Breakthrough scenario, right out of the narrative play section of the Age of Sigmar (3rd Edition) Core Book. The Daemons were the invaders and had to push units off the Defenders edge of the table. Half or more units escaping meant a Major Victory for the Daemons. At least one escaping and the Daemons leader surviving meant a Minor Victory. Anything less was some sort of Victory for the Stormcast. 

THE GAME

All ready with my Lucky Slaanesh Dice...

...And my lucky Slaanesh hat - victory was assured!

Aogzemmp'ptzhoe - the Daemon otherwise known as Howlthrob the Quivering Doom Snare, Viceleader, Herald of Slaanesh (They/Them). 

Finnegan, wearing a completely inappropriate t-shirt... Dakka-Orks... what was he thinking!? 

Daemons of Slaanesh - all set up and ready to overrun the Lightning Warriors paltry defences! 

ROUND ONE

SLAANESH - ROUND ONE 

The invader got to choose whether to go first or not, and I decided no time like the present to get swarming across the table - no sense in letting then get in a better position to block my way! 

Later, I wondered if letting them go first might have meant I could have charged the first turn... mind you, a smart player would probably move them into the way, but OUTSIDE their charge/threat distance.... 

Daemons surge forward - to the Realmgate! 

STORMCAST - ROUND ONE

The Evocator's of Stormsire's Cursebreakers cast Empower on the Castigators, and the Castigators shot at the Seekers of Sin, taking one out of action. 

Averon Stormsire cast Stormsire (what kind of egomaniac names a spell after themself...?) and did Mortal Wounds to the Luxurious Lavendrines, Howlthrob and the Seekers of Sin! Yikes! 

On the plus side, this netted me my first three Depravity Points - halfway to summoning a new unit! 

ROUND TWO

STORMCAST - ROUND TWO

One thing that is different about Age of Sigmar (compared to 40K that I've been playing a lot more of the last few years) is you dice to see who goes first EACH ROUND - so one side can end up going twice in a row. This is offset, a bit, by the side going second getting an extra Command Point. 

Spells and... whatever those Castigators shoot... were flung about again, though they were less disastrous than the previous turn. Also everyone started moving into blocking positions, and prepared to charge!  

The opposing warlords eyeing each other up... They would charge, moments later and exchanged blows. The Viceleader was seriously wounded by the pair! 

Steelheart's Champions charged the Luxurious Lavendrines. The powerful Stormcast slashed down FOUR Of the Daemonettes! The Daemonettes sold themselves dearly, though. They brought down Obryn the Bold and wounded Angharad Brightshield! 

The Evocators of Stormsire's Cursebreakers, Ammis and Rastus, Charged the Seekers of Sin. though the seekers dealt them a wound, the Cursbreakers utterly wiped them out! 

No Depravity Points for DEAD Seekers, but I did gain them for injuries to the Daemonettes, Steelheart's Champs, the Cursebreakers and the Viceleader. 

I also rolled a one for the Luxurious Lavendrines' battleshock test, which meant I got to return D6 Daemonettes to the unit (because: Icon of Slaanesh)! And I rolled another one... ah, well... 

SLAANESH - ROUND TWO

At the beginning of each TURN, during the Hero Phase, one hero on each side gets to select a Heroic Action. For most of the game, I was taking Heroic Recovery for my Viceleader - to regain wounds dealt in the previous round.... it was the only thing that kept them alive past the Second Round. Stormcast are just MEAN. No sense of fun at all... 

Howlthrob the Quivering Doom Snare, Viceleader, Herald of Slaanesh retreated from their combat with the two Stormcast Heroes and slipped past them to get just a little closer to escaping off the other edge of the table. 

Now that I had enough depravity points, the Viceleader was able to summon MORE Seekers - conveniently, I was able to summon them close enough to the edge that they were able to just ride off at the end of the turn!

The Viceleader then charged right back into the fray - as the Viridians of Vice charged in from the opposite direction. The Speed Chaser Command Trait allows the Viceleader to retreat and still charge later in the turn, and, as a Godseeker General, I gain D3 extra Depravity Points if my General makes a charge move in a turn (+1 if another unit charges as well)... so of course I rolled a 1... but still, two more Depravity Points... 

Blows were exchanged. The Questor slashed down a couple of the Daemonettes. The Daemonettes actually dealt a wound to Averon Stormsire (Yay for Epicurean Revellers and Mortal Wounds - it seems like that was the ONLY way to cause any wounds to ANYONE!?).

Elsewhere, the Luxurious Lavendrines, finished off Steelheart's Champions.

Throughout the game, Finnegan had Knight-Questor Erymos making terrible jokes and puns, in an effort to "relate" to his fellow Stormcast... We had assumed his command of these forces was new and they were unfamiliar with him and he kept trying to make himself relatable, but when a Stormcast is reforged too many times, they start to lose something of their humanity, and this seems to be the case with Erymas - his "jokes" were all "Dad Joke" level of bad and they all just fell flat... It was hilarious to me, though, and this is why it is ALWAYS so fun to play with Finnegan (and, indeed, anyone who is a ROLE-PLAYER, first and foremost) - the narrative of the story is always more important than who wins or loses - sometimes a defeat makes for a better story! 

I gained FIVE more Depravity Points. 

ROUND THREE

STORMCAST - ROUND THREE 

Stormsire (the Knight-Incantor) unleashed Stormsire (the spell) again and dealt Mortal Wounds to both units of Daemonettes and TWO to the Viceleader! 

In the Combat Phase, Stormsire then dealt two wounds on the Viceleader, which would have been the end of the Quivering Doom Snare, but Howlthrob managed to save BOTH of them!

SLAANESH  - ROUND THREE 

With no one standing in their way, the Luxurious Lavendrines made a run for the table edge - and the Realmgate beyond! 

The Viridians of Vice tried to keep the Stormcast Heroes busy... The last of the daemonettes were finished off in the Combat Phase. 

... while Howlthrob tried to make an escape. I was thinking of charging back in - for MORE Depravity Points, but then remembered the scenario... and decided to PLAY THE SCENARIO - teh goal of which is to GET OFF THE TABLE! 

I was also able to summon MORE Seekers. At this point we stopped and had a discussion about how summoned units affected the victory conditions - as it wasn't entirely clear in the scenario, as written, in the book... CAN I even use them to escape off the board (as I had already DONE with one unit of seekers) Is it half the number of the ORIGINAL force that has to get off the table? It felt like being able to use summoned units made that WAY too easy. Did summoned units increase the unit total, and thus, having now summoned six, I had to escape with three units for a major victory (instead of 2 - half of the original force size)? That seemed a LITTLE more reasonable... but still, at this point, I was able to summon a unit a turn, and could just keep sending them off the table. Eventually we decided, for this game, it should only be original units that count - so only two had to get off the table, but they had to be two of the units that STARTED on the table (so I kind of wasted a unit of seekers that I had previously summoned and ran off the table). 

ROUND FOUR

STORMCAST- ROUND FOUR

Well the Stormhost wasn't about to just lie down and let those Daemons escape! The Heroes decided to split up and Knight-Questor Erymas chased after Luxurious Lavendrines, while Averon Stormsire joined up with his Cursebreakers to chase down the Viceleader and these new Seekers they'd summoned. 

Before all the charging happened the Castigators fired a volley of their projectiles and took out one Seeker. 

The Knight-Questor managed to catch up with the DAemonettes and slashed down a few. In return, the Daemonettes dealt the Erymas one Mortal Wound! 

Stormsire and his Cursebreakers charged the Viceleader, wounds were caused, some were saved, Howlthrob was down to ONE WOUND! The Viceleader then dealt Stormsire one wound! 

The Seekers piled in... 17 attacks... not one wound on anyone... Ugh... Stormcast are the WORST... 

SLAANESH - ROUND FOUR

Another Heroic Recovery regained another 3 wounds for the Viceleader, and they decided it was time to get the flux out of Dodge! 

Pretty much all the Slaanesh Daemons retreated - heading for the table edge. (I also summoned another group of Daemonettes). 

Except the Seekers... they stuck around to fight Stormsire's Cursebreakers and hopefully give the Viceleader time to get away! 

ROUND FIVE

The Storm cast went first, but were unable to chase down any of the fleeing Daemons. 

The Seekers managed to finish off Averon Stormsire. 

In the end the only one close enough to escape off the board was Aogzemmp'ptzhoe - the daemon more commonly know as Howlthrob the Quivering Doom Snare, Viceleader, Herald of Slaanesh... which was good enough for a Minor Victory for Slaanesh! Woo! 

Having made it past the initial defence, we decided the Stromcast would likely have fallen back to a secondary line of defence - just before the Realmgate itself! The Stormhost has only just arrived and already they are fighting a Desperate battle just to hold the small bit of ground they claimed upon their arrival! Perhaps we will play the Watchtower scenario again (like our first game) except the defendable terrain is a small fortification, quickly thrown up around the Realmgate location itself! 

POST GAME

After all that excitement, we still have the Post Game Sequence to go through! 

First of all, we both gained five Glory Points for participating in a Path to Glory Battle of 500-750 points. I gained an additional two points for a Minor Victory, and we both gained one more point because our respective warlords participated and were not taken out of action.

Next we had to check for injuries. The only casualties Finnegan's force suffered were Steelheart's Champions and Averon Stormsire... and Unique Units never make injury or casualty rolls because it's assumed that legendary individuals always have a means of avoiding serious injury or death... (of course, they also can't gain any Renown or Veteran Abilities, so....). 

Of the two units of Daemonettes, the Luxurious Lavendrines and the Viridians of Vice, only one permanent casualty was suffered (one of the Lavendrines). The Seekers of Sin lost TWO of theirs - out of five... 

Next, warriors gained Renown. Each unit surviving a battle gains one Renown (if that CAN gain Renown - Unique Units - of which three of Finnegan's five units are - cannot!). Additionally, one unit that took part in the battle can be selected to be "Favoured Warriors" and they gain an additional D6 Renown. 

There's no real point in giving extra Renown to your warlord, as they start with fifteen and can't gain anything extra from having more. That left the Castigators in Finnegan's force and he rolled +4 for them, for a total of FIVE which made them Veteran Warriors! He selected Deadly Volley for their Veteran Ability. 

For me I rolled a two for the Luxurious Lavendrines, the only unit to survive with any of it's original member, other than my Warlord. So they have a total of three Renown. It doesn't actually specify that the unit you select as "Favoured Warriors" has to be one that SURVIVED, they only need to have PARTICIPATED... so I COULD have selected one of the others... but I didn't... this time... 

Next we update Quests. Finnegan had selected Defend Your Realm for his quest. He gained Quest Points for each fRiendly Unit wholly within his own territory at the end of the game. That was two - so he is two-thirds complete his quest. I had selected Master Magical Lore (as I didn't know what else to do at the moment) but then forgot to keep track of casting rolls. I gain one point for each roll of eight or higher, and i know I rolled a ten for one of my rolls... and I'm not sure any others were higher, so I gained one Quest Point. 

After Quests is managing Strongholds, and neither of us had enough Glory Points to upgrade anything, so we skipped on past that to Manage Territories.

In Manage Territories, first we make an Exploration Roll (D66 on the Territories Table). Finnegan got a Large Settlement (which reduces the Glory Point cost of adding units to the Roster that aren't Heroes). It does cost 10 Glory Points to add a discovered territory to your holdings, and he didn't feel he had any great use for that, so he left it... We said it was a group of colonists in Azyrheim that were ready and willing to come to the Island, but the Knight-Questor said it would probably be better if they wait until situation on the ground was a bit more stable and secure. 

I rolled a Wellspring which means one unit that participated in teh battle just doesn't roll for Casualties - that seemed pretty sweet and it was one of the rarer ones that can be rolled... so I spent the 10 Glory Points and took control of the Pool of Perversion! 

Finally, the last step is Manage Order of Battle. Here, Glory Points can be spent to add new units, reinforce (add to) existing ones, or Recuperate ones that have taken casualties. I spent two of my remaining Glory Points to recuperate the Seekers. I'll wait until the others have taken a few more permanent casualties before I blow points on recuperating them! Not that I had enough points to do so, as I have only one Glory Point remaining. 

Finnegan will be adding a unit of Duardin Irondrakes to his force (old Dwarf Thunderers). The Stormcast can take Cities of Sigmar forces as Allies and it made sense that a unit of Duardin would have arrived in their wake to start rebuilding fortifications around the Realmgate... I have loads more Cities of Sigmar, but NO more Stormcast miniatures that can be added to his force. You can only start with one allied unit, to add more to the roster, you need to have Ancient Roads territory! The Irondrakes cost 5 Glory Points to add to the roster. 

And that's it! Super excited to see where this goes! Hopefully we'll get in another game or two this week. Possibly tomorrow (Tuesday) and/or Thursday...? Stay tuned for more action - and more painting! 

I have a LOT of stuff on the painting table and a bit all-over-the-place with the work - too many things I all want done NOW!? Quickly knock off some more Slaanesh Daemons so I can start adding to my own force? Finish up the two units (7 figures) for Khorne - because that's ALL I have for them and they'd be DONE!? get to work on the Daughters of Khaine so Amanda can play and they can take part in the defence of their own island? More of the Cities of Sigmar forces? Warhammer Underworlds? Cursed City Minis?! Hopefully I'll get SOMETHING finished up soon to share!