Godhead's Folly

"Protectorate cavalry!" The Winterguard rang the warning, echoing their Kovnik's first call. "Protectorate Vengers on our left flank!" Guardsman Antonov Steiner was newly assigned to the unit. He was fresh off the academy somewhere in occupied Llael, hefting the new Khadoran rockets. He scanned the ruins in front of him and he nearly missed the exemplar errants a few yards before them.

"Errants on the fore!" he shouted, alerting his unit.

"Guardsman Antonov," it was Kovnik Grigorovich, "bear those rockets at seventeen, zero and zero! Guardsman Nikolai and Guardsman Sven! Assist fire Antonov's remaining rockets at seventeen-nine and seventeen-fifteen! They have a mage hunter there as well! Fire when ready!"

Three thundering explosions followed the three dull thumps from Antonov's rockets. Two errants were left shaken but still trying to stand. The Protectorate mage hunter flitted behind the ruins unscathed.

"Damn it all!" Kovnik Josef cursed loudly, "Winterguard, I do not want that mage hunter anywhere near the kommandant! Understood?"

"Affirmative, kovnik!" chorused the Winterguard.

+++

It was night time. And it was raining heavily. But from the Harbinger came a light so bright the whole battlefield shone like the sun itself. Two widowmakers stood and was entranced by the divine grandness of it all. But such is the power of the Harbinger that only the sheared shadows were left of the Khadoran snipers.

At the same time, the lead venger slammed into the solid wall of Iron Fangs.

"Pikemen!" bellowed Kapitan Alexei, feeling the burning vigor of Irusk's Battle Lust magick, "Put the Harbinger to your rear and keep the light from your eyes! I want these horsemen dead now! Scythe formation! Paired strikes on the riders!"

And with a seemingly fluid motion, the pikemen, all in the red aura of Irusk's spell, took a pivot at their heels and drove their blasting pikes at the vengers. Of the three hardy vengers, two fell at the Iron Fangs' attack. None of the pikemen fell at the Harbinger's deadly Godhead.

+++


"For our kovnik! Keep this bastard held!" Kapitan Alexei was already on the ground, clutching a bleeding wound on his gut. He was inching a crawl towards the fallen Grigorovich. Amidst his pikemen was Dartan Vilmon, a renowned Menite paladin. He has just felled three Greylords and is now barreling his way through the ranks of the Iron Fangs, their pikes scratching naught his magical aura.

His eyes came upon Kommandant Irusk, slowly making his way around the melee of the Fangs and Vilmon. He knew that he may not survive the battle, especially if the paladin of Menoth reaches him. But despite the knowledge of impending death, Iron Fang Alexia let out a hearty chuckle. He fought side by side with not only Kovnik Grigorovich, but also the legendary Kommandant Irusk as well. And the strong strides of Irusk across the battlefield told him that he will not die a meaningless death.

"Winterguard!" Irusk's voice seemingly amplified with magick, "All to fire on the Harbinger! Bleed this whelp!" The large unit of Winterguard rushed forward, bringing all the blunderbusses to bear, and unleashed a tumultuous barrage at the Menite warcaster. The Harbinger's armor seemed to be as shattered glass. Her aura dimmed as she dipped slowly to the ground.

"For the motherland," Irusk sneered, firing an arcane-powered shot with his sword cannon.

+++

Scenario: 500 pts SR3 Beta Assassins
Opponent: Ian "Fluffy" Peña
Opposing warcaster: The Harbinger of Menoth

Evidently, Fluffy's gotten blanked when he moved his Vengers to engage my IFP. But I guess most of the boys had a nice reaction on how I dealt with Harbinger's Godhead. By turning the IFP so as not to have LOS to the Harbinger, they were unharmed by that feat. And at the same time, they managed to down the Venger leader, as well as an 8-wound cavalry model.

The Harbinger effectively bitchslaps my Inhospitable Ground tactic. I guess my only consolation with that is she'll be left with fewer FOC by using Purification.