The
Brightflow Gap
The Wargate Season 3 2013
 |
| The Brightflow Gap Campaign Map |
Mitterfruhl 3, 2526 I.C. - The Spring Equinox
Over the last year, the dwarfs in the Grey Mountains have fought and lost a horrible war. Greystone Pass is lost to his malicious whims of vile Dark Elves, and all manner of other evil creatures encroach upon Wissenland from the mountain passes. As refugees from Khazid Grimaz pour into human lands seeking a respite from the orcs, beastmen and dark elves harrying them, the men of the Old World find themselves properly involved in the conflict.
In the middle of the Grey Mountains, a tributary of the Reik known as the Brightflow erupts from the mountains. The streams and rivulets gather in the valley, and join with the mighty river north of the town of Wurmgrube. Named for the exceptionally sparkling surface of the river, the Brightflow valley is also known as the Brightflow Gap - for it is also a pass directly through the mountains and into Bretonnia. It is vitally important to trade both in Bretonnia and in western Wissenland, and is the site of many Imperial villages that must be defended by the Empire.
Over the skies of the Brightflow Gap waft huge plumes of evil black smoke. Some say that they see things in the billowing clouds. Sometimes, they are tinged a fell color...and some men have gone mad by watching them drift by in the spring sky. The clouds of vile smoke drift from the west, and already at least one village has been made into a ghost town as the inhabitants frantically got out of the way of the evil plumes. Horrible tales are told in taverns from Skaeling to Bradenham, but the truth is far worse.
Fekul-Hoof the Foul, Master of Giants and Lord of the Horde, has come to Brightflow. He has been gathering the herdstones of the tribes he has subsumed, and brought them to one spot near the pass. As he gathers more herdstones, the shaman has bade his tribe to create a horrid fire about them. Now, this pyre of feces burns bright and great with all manner of foulness and evil sacrifices. And as souls are claimed by the fire, the smoke that erupts from the destruction and offal is tainted by Chaos. Yet, if Fekul-Hoof is to gather enough energy to finish his fecal plan, he must go to war. War with the Empire itself.
Yet the men and beasts bicker without knowing they are being observed. Other powers watch - and plot their own moves. Though they do not know it yet, as man and beast tear each other apart in a vicious and hateful struggle, they are weakening themselves against a foe they are unprepared for. Neither of them suspect that the ancient dead have designs on the land they now shed their blood upon.
The ancient dead...and even stranger powers now enter the struggle. A struggle that will prove to be a pivotal flashpoint in the long struggle against the old dark...
Campaign Rules
Of particular note is the abandonment of Battle Magnitude and the concentration of armies into teams. There is no longer a need to have a particular number of players, nor are teams restricted to a certain number of member armies / players. As you will find, the new system encourages more games to be played and neither has a minimum or a limit to the number of games that can be played. We heartily invite anyone who wants to play to join in our campaign and fight as many battles as they like under their army's banner, or simply join campaign games as allied forces!
- Provincial Defenders of Wissenland (The Empire / Dave Bone)
- House of Zigler (Bretonnians / Buff Bagworm)
- Ahuiateteo (Lizardmen / Bignutt)
- Herd of Fekul-Hoof (Beastmen / Jerry Wargate)
- House Von Klockenshrok (Vampire Counts / Captain Video)
- King's Vengeance (Tomb Kings / Skim)
- Face-Eater Tribe (Ogre Kingdoms / Joe Kool)
Campaign Updates
 |
| Brightflow Gap Finals |
- (7.1.13) - The Campaign has begun! Expository turns see the map cluttered with Fortifications by the Imperial and Tomb Kings teams, and a trail of Pillaged areas by the Chaos Team.
- (7.7.13) - Tomb Kings attack Chaos and push them off the Caravan Route and back toward the Fekul-Pyre.
- (7.14.13) - A combined force of Imperial and Bretonnian troops fight a beastman horde to a standstill in the woods near Eastern Oaks.
- (7.21.13) - The Imperial team continued its' vicious assault, yet they appear ill-fated from conception. In the Eastern Oaks, an undead army commanded by Dieter Von Klockenshrok drive the Imperial forces away from the Oaks and back towards Schloss Bestrafe. In the north on the plains near Wurmgrube, the Tomb Kings defend against the Imperials as a massive coalition of forces descend on their positions. The Imperial team turned out in full, and the Tomb Kings had some temporary help in the form in Dieter Von Klockenshrok, whose home at the time was under the control of the King's Vengeance. However, the Imperial coalition was annihilated by the Tomb Kings and the army scattered.
- (7.28.13) - Unwilling to admit defeat, the Imperial army moved once again to dislodge the Chaos forces from Greenhenge, but failed to do so even through the fighting was horrible and bitter. Tomb Kings forces move south into areas controlled by both Chaos and the Imperials.
- (8.4.13) - The King's Vengeance decimates the Dwarf Refugee Camp and Ansbourg. In addition, the host of the undead met with Fekul-Hoof's monstrous herd, and a great battle ensued that saw the Chaos beasts overrun and destroy the Tomb Kings army near Greenhenge.
- (8.11.13) - House Von Klockenshrok finds itself under siege by the Imperial team, but in the forest around Bradenham the Bretonnians find themselves haunted by wraiths and flee the city. Near Greenhenge, the Von Klockenshroks there put up a great fight against the Imperial army, but another battle sees no victor at that black monument.
- (8.14.13) - The King's Vengeance is attacked in the third phase of the massive Imperial offensive, but after clashing together the armies simply fall back to their original position and prepare to fight again. The huge Imperial offensive isn't broken, but they have only lost ground during the push.
- (8.18.13) - The Face-Eaters Tribe is attacked near the Refugee Camp at dawn, and after fighting all day, the armies retreat to their original positions to lick their wounds. Hostilities die down for a few days.
- (8.25.13) - The King's Vengeance moved on the Herd of Fekul-Hoof, but both armies fought to a stalemate. House Von Klockenshrok holds out under siege as the beastmen pillage it. The Provincial Defenders attack beastman forces near Ansbourg, achieving victory.
- (9.8.13) - The King's Vengeance skirmishes with the Provincial Defenders, finally sending them packing for Schloss Bestrafe. Fighting breaks out again at the Fekul-Pyre as the herd moves on the Tomb Kings who have put out the fire and attempted to cleanse the foul hole. The King's Vengeance maintain their position and severely hamper the fighting ability of both the Empire alliance and the Chaos forces.
- (9.15.13) - The House of Zigler rides to break the stalemate near Eastern Oaks, and together with Imperial troops manage to seriously disrupt the vampire's magic. The undead army is repulsed, and the Alliance gains momentum. Elsewhere, the Tomb Kings battle with the Herd of Fekul-Hoof attempting to regain entry to the site of the Fekul Pyre. The King's Vengeance is smashed by giants swarming from the woods, and retreat from the battlefield.
- (9.23.13) - The final battles of the campaign are fought as the King's Vengeance is harangued around the Fekul-Pyre by the herd. The House of Zigler is defeated near the caravan route, and pushed back to the border. Chaos has risen to the top in Brightflow Gap!
Chaos has won the campaign!
 |
| Brightflow Gap Final Positions White = Imperial Fortification Red = Chaos Fortification Blue = Tomb Kings Fortification Text Indicates Army |
Chaos has overwhelmed the armies in the Brightflow Gap. Though outmaneuvered at nearly every turn, the Herd of Fekul-Hoof remained strong enough to punch through the front lines of both the defenders of Brightflow Gap and the would-be invading Tomb Kings. Though the undead managed to douse the Fekul Pyre and stop the emanations of chaos emitting from the horrible pit, the damage had been done.
The Fekul Pyre was a smoke signal, made of chaotic energy and directed by fell sorcery. The call to the herds has gone out, and horrible monsters of all sorts gather in the forests in greater numbers than ever before. Though the herd has been destabilized, it has only scattered. Now it harasses everyone, everywhere in the Brightflow Gap. In some ways, this has done much for Fekul-Hoof's cause. Soon the herd will come together again...and this time it will be a terrible horde.
The vampire count von Klockenshrok has joined with the Fekul Herd, and has began to amass a large army of undead soldiery. The trade lane is disrupted by mobs of undead and beastmen, and whole caravans are lost before the route to Bretonnia is closed. Ansbourg, taken by the Tomb Kings, becomes a necropolis overnight. The western pass is truly lost to the men of the Empire, and the defeat here will surely be felt for years to come.
 |
| Warmasters 2013 celebrate victory! |
Congratulations, Jerry Wargate and Captain Video...this year's Warmasters!
The night was full of the chirping of crickets.
Rain dripped on the leaves above him, and fell upon his gnarly countenance, matting the nasty fur against his mis-shapen skull. He crouched in the darkness, in the bushes under the treeline, watching the small settlement sleep in the dead of the night. It was quiet and dark, no one at all was stirring. Confident that he maintained the element of surprise, he waved his warriors forward and smiled. Fekul-Hoof was pleased.
Not a sound was made by the horde as it filed into the streets of the small village, nor did the shambling of the undead regiments marching up the road through the forest. As his gors ran up the lane to the small footbridge leading into the village, the dead filed past as well. Gors hopped and slipped between ranks of zombies and skeletons who barely noticed them prancing about.
Fekul-Hoof and his bestigors stepped out onto the road. The beastman shaman met the eyes of the mounted necromancer who marched beside the column of rotting flesh. They merely nodded to one another, for the "plan" was as simple as it was effective - stay silent until everything was in position, then kill everyone and everything. So far, it was all going very well.
The night was full of the chirping of crickets.