Three hundred years ago, a fiery Sigmarite zealot from Middenheim named Regimius inspired his brethren to take the battle directly to the heart of the Chaos Wastes. Despite the efforts of the nobles, military commanders, and Cult officials, thousands of soldiers, militiamen, Priests, and fervent commoners abandoned their posts and homes to undertake this crusade. The army, known as Sigmar's Brave, brimmed with religious zeal but lacked much in the way of planning and logistics. Miraculously, the army pierced nearly two hundred miles into the Chaos Wastes, facing only minor resistance from surprised bands of Orcs and Beastmen. The survivors, however, spread word of the coming of Sigmar's Brave, and the bloodthirsty inhabitants of the Wastes eventually raised a counter army nearly double the size of the Human force.[1a][1b]
The two armies clashed near a lonely dried riverbed. The Human army was faltering at this point, as food supplies ran low, and the incessant cold weather sapped the will. A force of thousands Beastmen and Kurgan, bolstered by a throng of Goblin tribes and Daemons, pinned the army train in a classic pincher move. The slaughter was unprecedented. In the end, not a single soldier of Sigmar's Brave remained alive—although Regimius is rumoured to have fled the battlefield deep into the Wastes. As the meat was ripped off their skeletons for the victory feast, the bones of the victims were tossed into a single pile, which rose for nearly a hundred feet into the air. The Hill of Bones remains to this day and is the haunt of the souls of those betrayed by their leader's cowardice and the folly of their crusade.[1b]