The Battle of the Blizzard took place between the Warriors of Chaos and the Ogre Kingdoms as both sides fought for control of the Challenge Stone.[1a]
From out of the Northern Wastes a horde of fur-clad men gathered around the Challenge Stone, erasing the marks made by the cave-dwelling Glutmonger tribe. Many rituals were held under the stone's shadow, but the barbarians were not so foolish as to think their actions would go unnoticed. Unafraid, they shook their weapons and fists at the snowcapped mountains to the south. They invited attack - baying for blood and shouting oaths into the steel-grey skies. Yet as their fell leaders gazed over the massive army, they felt sure that this time the Ogres would not dare meet their challenge.[1a]
Folg, the Tyrant of the Blood maws, assembled his tribe even as storm clouds gathered. The tribe's best Hunter, Targh the Impaler, predicted a heavy snow, claiming all the wild beasts, save for the frost-loving Thundertusks, were hunkering down, a sure sign of foul weather. Folg did not mean to shelter from the storm, but instead to take advantage of it. Just as the winter tempest unleashed its icy fury, the Ogres marched out of the mountains to war. Although they could not yet be seen, the heavy tramp of Ogre feet could be felt. The forces of Chaos rushed to form battle lines, fur-clad barbarians, iron-encased Chaos Warriors and hulking Dragon Ogres gazed into the swirling snows, seeking the lumbering forms they knew must soon come looming out.[1a]
Under cover of the howling snowstorm, it was the Yhetees who drew first blood. Loping forward, the white pelts of the beasts made them all but invisible. To the men it was as if the blinding snow had suddenly grown long and wicked claws. Even as the Yhetees disappeared back into the foul weather, dragging their screaming victim with them, the advancing Ogre army loomed out of the storm. On they came, crashing upon the Chaos lines and driving them back. So fierce was their impact that many of the barbarians were crushed or sent flying by that tide of flesh and muscle.[1a][1b]
Into the centre of the enemy line rode Targh, his Stonehorn flattening the foe with every grinding stomp. Not even the black, spiky armour of the Chaos Warriors could withstand those pulverising blows. The largest formation of Bloodmaws was led by Folg himself and they smashed, punched and bullied their way deep into the enemy's midst searching for the Chaos leader. The Chaos Lord's blood red armour stood out like a beacon, seeming to glow from some internal furnace of purest hatred. He rode atop a Chimera, a three-headed monster that was considered fierce even by Ogre standards. Three times did Folg swing his maul, a massive club weighted at the end with a boulder. Each blow was accompanied by a mighty grunt, and followed with the pulping sound of one of the Chimera's heads being split asunder. Thus did Folg earn the title of Mauler. It was afterwards said that the Chimera's great canine head was indistinguishable from that of the reptilian or avian head - all were reduced to a crimson mush. The Chaos Lord, half pinned beneath his fallen beast, was trodden to death.[1b]
But the Chaos hordes were too many to fall so easily. For a full day and full night both blizzard and battle raged, piling now higher than an Ogre's gut-plate. The fight quickly devolved into hundreds of separate combats spread far across the frozen fields. Through that maelstrom of snow, enemies could come from any angle and such was the fury of that icy deluge that each regiment became separated from its comrades. Small groups and makeshift units formed circles of defence or waded shoulder to shoulder into the blizzard to seek out the foe. The superior numbers of the Chaos army could never be brought to bear and when the storm eased, only the Ogres of the Bloodmaw tribe were left standing in the well-trodden and gore-stained snow. No injured were left behind, as the ravenous Yhetees could smell the blood of even those buried beneath heaped banks of snow. Piling horned helmets against the Challenge Stone, the Bloodmaws actually covered the monolith with their victory tokens before marching back to the mountains.[1b]
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