The Skaven Wars, also called the Great Skaven Wars, were the first major Skaven invasion of the Empire of Man. Fought from 1111 to 1124 IC, it was a devastating conflict that saw nearly three in every four Imperial citizens die, primarily to a nefarious Skaven disease known as the Black Death or the Black Plague that the ratmen unleashed upon the surface world before they launched their assault.[1a][1b]
The Black Death and the Skaven Wars that followed are counted as the single greatest disaster to ever befall the Empire, greater even than the civil wars that defined the Age of Three Emperors and the Vampire Wars combined.[2a] However, by the 26th century IC, the Skaven Wars were largely considered to be legendary, as few in the Empire actually believed in the existence of the Skaven.[1b]
History[]
Skaven Preparations[]
With the ending of the First Skaven Civil War and the accession of Clan Pestilens to the Under-Empire's ruling Council of Thirteen, the children of the Horned Rat at last made their move on the most powerful kingdom of Mankind, the Empire of Man of the Old World. Over several centuries, the Under-Empire recovered from the internecine strife, and once more, the armies of Skavendom grew large. Now armed with the power of Clan Pestilens' deadly plagues, and the unseen blades of the assassins of Clan Eshin at their disposal, the council felt it was time to finally enact an invasion of the surface world and bring about the long-promised Great Ascendancy of the Horned Rat and his Skaven children.[1a]
The Order of the Grey Seers gathered together to conduct a powerful ritual. Eleven of the most powerful horned ratmen gathered with Seer Lord Skrittar. Each of the sorcerers had taken a potent mixture of drugs to enhance their prowess. With an extremely rare alignment of stars and moon, the Skaven Grey Seers blasted a chunk of pure warpstone from Morrslieb to be used as fuel for the upcoming war effort. Despite several of the ratmen wizard-priests dying, the spell proved successful, and the fragment of warpstone remained in orbit of Mallus and ready to be thrown down upon the Known World when called upon.[2a]
The Council of Thirteen gathered and discussed plans for the Great Ascendancy. The Arch-Plaguelord Nurglitch IV of Clan Pestilens showed off a vial of the disease his clan planned to unleash upon the surface realms to the council, but the representative of Clan Moulder, High Vivisectionist Rattnak Vile asked how it would only hurt Men and not Skaven. A cage of Humans and Skavenslaves was wheeled in, and the vial was tossed down into the cage. The Humans began to writhe in pain from the disease, but the terrified Skaven showed no signs of infection. Nurglitch stated that 90% of Humans had quickly perished in Clan Pestilen's tests of the pathogen.[2b]
Unleashing the Plague (1111 IC)[]
In the winter of the year 1111 IC a new strain of disease developed by Clan Pestilens was delivered by Clan Eshin adepts into the wells and sewers of many cities of the Empire. The scourge spread like wildfire. The first signs of infection were ominous blotches on the skin, followed by the swelling of joints and an agonising fever. Victims could last from minutes to a few weeks before the disturbing final stages of the disease, when the afflicted writhed in convulsions for torturous hours. The lucky died quickly, and in death the corpse turned a dark, ashen grey.[1a]
The winter of 1111 IC was a harsh one for the Empire. The cold hit the country bitterly and grain production from the southern provinces began to decline. Granaries began to look like armed camps as guards constantly circled their precious contents. Livestock began to be locked up and secured to avoid any theft as hunger kicked in. Insane flagellants and zealots began to wander the land. In Sylvania, the old marsh god Bylorak began to be worshipped again through Human sacrifice as the plague ravaged the desparate population.[2c]
The plague, later called the "Black Death" in the EMpire, began simultaneously in the great Imperial cities of Nuln, Altdorf and Talabheim. The trade routes, the roads and rivers, helped the illness spread swiftly. Towns shut their gates against the many refugees. Middenheim closed its viaducts and avoided the plague, but others did not. Entire villages were lost at once and soon the dead outnumbered the living. Bands of flagellants wandered the land proclaiming Sigmar's wrath upon his people.[1a]
Talabheim soon forcibly quarantined itself, an act that enraged Emperor Boris I Hohenbach, who sent Reiksmarshal Everhardt Johannes Boekenfoerde with a large army to forcibly reopen the markets after the Bread Massacre. This was not motivated by need for the food supplies that flowed into the river but instead Boris' greed for continued tax revenues.[2d]
Before the assault even began, however, the unity of the Skaven inevitably began to collapse. Plague Priest Puskab Foulfur, the original creator of the plague, allied with Clan Verms to use their fleas to spread his disease, and soon they planned to assassinate the current Pontifex and Arch-Plagurlord of Clan Pestilens, Nurglitch IV. After the expected assassination of Nurglitch IV by venemous spiders, Pestilens would alter the plague to affect Skaven as well as Men, ensuring any clan that did not bow to them would be ravaged by the horrific disease.[2d]
After the failed assassination attempt, Nurglitch unleashed the plague on spies in Clan Verms. Chaos immediately broke out in Skavenblight as the plague, which had been ravaging Mankind, began to cull thousands of Skaven. For the first time ever, the Council of Thirteen agreed almost unanimously, save for Wormlord Blight Tenscratch, to quarantine and exterminate the Hive, Clan Verms' headquarters.[2e]
Clan Rictus' Stormvermin and their thrall clans rushed throughout the Skaven capital to reinstall order as rival clans began to ransack each other's holds. Thousands of Skaven began to flee into the dozens of exit passage ways, but Stormvermin shield walls and Warplock Jezzails began to ruthlessly massacre the escapees. Warpfire Throwers were brought up and began to immolate the entire Hive. A few high-ranking Skaven were allowed through the shield wall, but most were slaughtered without mercy by Rictus Stormvermin or Clan Skryre weaponry.[2e]
Clan Verms also lost its seat on the Council of Thriteen when Puskab Foulfur challenged Blight Tenscratch for his seat. The two engaged in a ritualised combat in which they climbed to the top of the Shattered Tower in Skavenblight. From there, they could see all the way to Miragliano and the mountains. Puskab proved victorious in their duel, granting Clan Pestilens two votes on the Council of Thirteen, which was unheard of in prior Skaven history.[2e]
Skaven Assault[]
In the spring of 1111 IC, the Black Death's grip abated somewhat and the Council of Thirteen unleashed the Warlord Clans upon the surface world. The tottering remnants of the Empire of Man could not stand before the chittering hordes of the Skaven. The depopulated regions of the Empire were overrun. The Human defenders were slain and eaten, while crops and livestock were looted. Against the tolling bells of the infernal Skaven war machines, even walled towns were breached with ease.[1a]
Sylvanian Theatre and the Battle of the Plague Dragons (1112-1113 IC)[]
The first land of the surface world to be assaulted by the Skaven was Sylvania. No Imperial province had been hit harder by the Black Plague than the land of the Fennones, and the necromancer Frederick van Hal, better known as Vanhal, was also overwhelming the province with his hordes of Undead. Sylvania was also struck by an intense barrage of warpstone meteors that Seerlord Skrittar had broken off from the moon of Morrslieb through the use of sorcery in the hope of vastly enriching himself.[4a]
Nearly half the province's population had already died to the plagues and the Undead unleashed by Vanhal, and the rest were poisoned by the presence of the warpstone. Clan Fester led the charge into Sylvania under the leadership of Skrittar in the hopes of claiming the fragments of warpstone, gathering as much of the toxic substance as possible. Clanrats burned Sylvanian villages and farms, capturing many Humans to be enslaved or eaten.[4a]
Vanhal lead a counterattack against Clan Fester. The Skaven's Plague Censer-Bearers tried to unleash virulent diseases on the necromancer's Undead hordes, but the Zombies were already dead and overran them quickly. Skrittar realised that these were not simply odd Humans, but the Undead that the Skaven hordes had fought so hard against Nagash. Clan Mordkin, the experts in Skavendom for dealing with the Undead, were sent to the front lines and began to throw back the Undead assault. Yet Vanhal had summoned a truly massive Undead army from Hel Fenn to defend his personal project: a towering artefact capable of retaining immense magical energy.[4c]
The grave-rats of Clan Mordkin fought ferociously through the Undead lines. Despite outnumbering the Undead nearly ten to one, Vanhal had summoned a legion of Zombie Dragons that cut a path through the ratmen like a scythe through wheat. Seerlord Skrittar, mounted on his Screaming Bell, managed to wound Lothar von Diehl but couldn't finish him off due to reinforcement by the Zombie Dragons. The Undead beasts tore through hundreds of ratmen with every passing second. Skrittar knew he couldn't destroy every Undead Dragon but instead focused a massive amount of magical energy towards the necromancer. This surge overwhelmed his body's capacity to channel the Winds of Magic, mutating Skrittar into an abominable Rat Spawn, who was then killed by a magical blast from Vanhal. This battle would become known as the "Battle of the Plague Dragons".[4d]
Siege of Altdorf (1114 IC)[]
"Men of Altdorf! Men of the Empire! Brothers all! Behold the steel in your hears! Behold the fire of your faith! Behold the magnitude of your valour! When others flee, when others cower and hide, you stand tall! You stand proud! You stand as free men! You carry the Light of Sigmar within you, and it shall not be quenched by the vermin of Old Night!"
- —Grand Theogonist Gazulgrund, defending the Holy Temple of Sigmar
Adolf Kreyssig, the head of the Empire's Kaiserjaeger secret police, had recently been named Protector of the Empire and his regent by Emperor Boris I after his departure for his luxurious palace at Schloss Hochenbach, just outside Carroburg, in the hopes of avoiding the worst of the plague. Kreyssig had originally secretly cooperated with the Skaven of Under-Altdorf, using them as his spies to maintain control over Altdorf and identify the emperor's political opponents. However, when Kreyssig refused to lend the ratmen any more grain, Clan Skryre and Warmaster Sythar Doom led the Skaven assault on the Imperial capital city once it was confirmed that Kreyssig had begun marshalling an army, not for a march against Talabheim, which the Skaven spies had originally predicted, but to eliminate them.[4d]
The first battle between the Imperial forces and the Skaven began when an Imperial Dwarf tax collector barged into a seemingly deserted house in Altdorf, only to find it occupied by hundreds of Skaven from Under-Altdorf. The brave Dwarf warrior took down ten of them before being torn to pieces. After this, the assault began in earnest. All across Altdorf this scene was soon repeated. Innumerable waves of ratmen come up out of their subterranean tunnels beneath the city slaughtered anyone in sight. Refugee camps were surrounded and set on fire: those inside suffered horribly before they died. Temples taking care of the sick and dying became slaughterhouses for the merciless ratmen. The area of the city east of the River Reik was cut off from the rest of the capital after the Skaven destroyed the bridges across the river. The Temple of Morr was one of the few to hold out as thirty Knights of Morr fought an assault launched by hundreds of Skaven.[4d]
Kreyssig managed an impressive defence as the Kaiserjaeger and Kaiserknecht rallied at the Imperial Palace. There, nearly a quarter of the Imperial State Troops' command staff were eliminated by a surprise assault by Skaven Night Runners. After his baroness lover saved him from a similar death through magical means, Kreyssig managed to get three thousand Imperial foot soldiers and several hundred knights to rally at the Holy Temple of Sigmar.[4d]
Grand Theogonist Gazulgrund of the Cult of Sigmar stood valiantly against the ratmen's assault as they surrounded the Great Cathedral of Sigmar from three sides. Peasants armed with spades and scythes, merchants with knives and swords, flagellants with maces and whips, and Knights of Sigmar's Blood all stood to defend the temple's steps. It was a motley assortment of Humanity, all united to throw back the ratmen invaders.[4d]
Gazulgrund lifted the massive weapon known as Thorgrim and began a deafening chant of "For Sigmar"! The Skaven paused, then stuttered a few steps backwards before being whipped by their officers back into the fray. However, it was at this moment that their true craven nature was revealed, and the morale of the defenders subsequently improved, as they prepared to defend the Holy Temple of Sigmar to the last.[4d]
Adolf Kreyssig pushed his forces forward towards the Great Cathedral. He would have preferred to defend the more heavily fortified Imperial Palace, but he knew the fall of the Great Cathedral would crush the morale of the Imperial defenders, whose faith in Sigmar was absolute. Kreyssig rode through the battle lines, his sword slicing out as his steed crushed the bodies of ratmen beneath him. Meanwhile, the defenders of the Great Cathedral finally threw back the invaders, the Skaven forces losing cohesion as they were crammed by the Imperial counterattack into increasingly immobile and easily slaughtered formations on the temple steps.[4f]
The Skaven brought up two massive wagons of Warpfire Throwers, but Kreyssig's witch lover unleashed a magical blast that incinerated hundreds of ratmen, including the heavy weapons. The Skaven, expecting an easy fight, were cut down in the thousands as they routed. Scythar Doom, realizing the battle was lost, managed to escape underground with a few of his forces.[4f]
Schloss Hochenbach Massacre (1115 IC)[]
Emperor Boris Goldgather, instead of taking action to rally his nation, had retreated to his ancestral home of Schloss Hochenbach, just outside Carroburg. There, he indulged in every pleasure imaginable while most of his people starved. However, the Skaven did not allow the emperor to emjoy his escape for long. In 1115 IC, the Black Death spread amongst the people of Carroburg, devastating the populace.[4f]
Boris simply ordered his castle's gates closed and proceeded to ignore the suffering directly outside his walls just as he had always done. Yet, one day soon afterwards, the emperor was enjoying the perverse destruction of Carroburg as catapults from the castle launched flaming projectiles into the city, destroying most of it. He then noticed an eerie chanting emerging from the direction of the city as long lines of Skaven Plague Monks from Clan Pestilens began to arrive at the castle gates.[4f]
A green fog, an extremely concentrated version of the Black Death, began to float towards the emperor's fortress, blinding the archers on the walls. A few Skaven were killed by sheer luck as their arrows hit their mark. However, the cloud began to spill over the ramparts and immediately killed everyone it touched. The emperor's champion, the greatest swordsman in the Empire, fell dead first. The craven Boris ran inside, barricading the door as Count Artur of Nuln and dozens of other important nobles of the Empire were caught in the miasma.[4f]
Boris finally fled to the small chapel of Sigmar located in the castle with two other nobles. There, he was miraculously spared as he spent the whole night confessing his myriad crimes against the people of the Empire. Meanwhile, the Skaven were massacring everyone outside the chapel with merciless savagery. However, as the sun rose and he remained alive, the emperor immediately went back to his old ways, plotting to use the massacre of so many Imperial nobles as a way to seize their titles and estates for himself. The outraged Princess Erna who was in the chapel with Boris then took a hammer laying nearby and smashed the emperor's head in, finally ending his dreadful reign for good.[4f]
As slaves and booty were claimed from the Empire, the status of Clan Pestilens rose. Even the other Lords of Decay on the Under-Empire's ruling Council of Thirteen, try as they might, could not deny the potency of the Black Death. The plaguelords ultimately pressed their political advantage and supplanted two of the Lords of Decay. Thus Clan Pestilens became the first clan in Skaven history to secure an unprecedented (and worrisome) three positions on the Council of Thirteen.[1a]
Battle of Middenheim (1118 IC)[]
"We ride to our doom. We ride into the flames of vengeance, into the cauldron of slaughter. We ride to reap and slay, to kill and die. We ride to seek an end that will not shame us in the eyes of Ulric."
- —Graf Gunthar von Zelt of Middenheim, leading his troops to a counterattack against the assaulting Skaven.[4d]
By 1118 IC, the Empire was on the brink of total collapse. Norscans had razed Westerland and occupied Marienburg. Beastmen still poured out of the forests of the Old World to destroy the remaining Imperial settlements in the Drakwald. Goblin hordes rampaged through Ostermark and Ostland. As bad as things were in the north, they were far worse in the south. The necromancer Frederick van Hal slaughtered all in his path with uncountable numbers of Undead in Sylvania as the warpstone meteors summoned by the Skaven poisoned many villages. Solland was overrun by the Skaven. Pfeildorf was converted into a slaving centre by the ratmen, and the same fate soon befell Wissenburg. At first, Mankind had initially regarded the Skaven as a variety of Beastmen, but they soon began to realise the horrific truth, that the ratmen were a species wholly their own.[4b]
Mandred von Zelt, the prince of the city of Middenheim, had uncovered the ghastly truth of the Skaven's infiltration of the cities of the Empire and their battle with the Imperial Dwarfs below his city. After discussing the problem of the Skaven with the thane of Middenheim's Dwarfs, Mandred was selected to lead an elite contingent of warriors into the darkness inside the mountain of the Ulricsberg at the heart of the city. There, with a small company of Dwarfs, the Imperial troops set up a chokepoint as hundreds of Skaven rushed them. The savagery of the ratmen took down many of the Imperials in the initial charge, but the discipline of the Middenheimers ultimately broke the Skaven assault. Hundreds upon hundreds of ratmen died as they began to flee from the slaughter. The Imperial knights and foot soldiers began to pursue, but Kurgaz, the old Dawi warrior leading the Dwarf contingent and the rest of his Dwarf warriors barred the way. Kurgaz even knocked a man over who tried to push past. The Dawi's advice to not quickly follow retreating Skaven showed itself sound when the exit from the subterranean maze collapsed as part of a Skaven booby-trap, which resulted, due to the Dwarfs' caution, in only crushing yet more Skaven.[4d]
The column of Imperial soldiers quickly moved to another area of the Dwarf hold under siege from the Skaven, the fourth level. There, hundreds of Skaven attacked the few dozen Dawi guarding the entrance. Warhammers and axes carved clear through the horde of ratmen as the Human warriors slammed into their flank. A few brawny Stormvermin put up a little bit of a fight, but the ratmen were quickly routed. Mandred then received dire news: the city itself was under attack by the ratmen. Unending numbers of Skaven emerged from the city's gutters and began a campaign of terror throughout Middenheim. The ratmen's Warplock Jezzails easily annihilated the troops on the city's walls as the vanguard rushed to secure the palace of the graf. Thankfully, Graf Gunthar von Zelt, Manfred's father, had rallied some of his forces and led the defence of his city.[4d]
Clan Mors and Clan Rictus charged into the surface city and the Dwarf hold below. Their Stormvermin were among the best troops in Skavendom, supplemented by the ingestion of warpweed. The Skaven were everwhere in the city, making a mockery of the impregnable fortifications and defensive strategies that Middenheim had long prided itself on. Both sides set fire to entire neighborhoods, trying to constrict each other's movements.[4f]
Graf Gunthar met with Grand Master Vitholf and his Knights of the White Wolf, preparing to sally out for the counter-attack. Watchmen, templars, hunters, foresters, rangers, and mercenaries charged into the Eastgate district. Skaven snipers on rooftops desperately tried to stop the triumphant charge of Humanity, but it was like throwing pebbles into the sea. Nothing stopped the surge of Middenheim's vengeance. Horses smashed through shops and stores to pursue fleeing ratmen. Spearmen skewered Skaven hiding in alleways. Archers sniped the rooftops clear of enemies.[4f]
However, the knights had pursued their foes too far, and ratmen soon erupted from what seemed like literally every single building within the city. The soldiers were completely surrounded by an unending horde of ratmen. For a second, Warlord Vrrmik and his army paused as he smelled the scent of fear on the Human troops before unleashing carnage. Soldiers were dragged down beneath packs of Clanrats as Stormvermin chopped the mounts from underneath knights. Skaven Jezzail teams relentlessly picked off Imperial soldiers, their bullets blasting through plate armour. Despite this, the graf and his troops fought valiantly against impossible odds. The graf even managed to use the legendary Runefang Legbiter to kill Clan Rictus' warlord, Vecteek. [4f]
Mandred, after defeating the foe below, marched his troops and the Dwarf forces back into the city. There, he found his father's forces in a truly desperate situation. To cries of "For Wolf and Graf!", Mandred's soldiers hacked their way to their entrapped allies. However, the elite Verminguard advanced into their path, blocking the way with a crack line of halberd-wielding ratmen. Warlord Vrrmik sought out Mandred personally but was unprepared for the young man's martial skill. Mandred was gashed by one of the ratman's claws but fought through the pain to impale the warlord. Vrrmik stumbled backwards, wounded. He had been perceived as invincible by his troops, and his fear scent quickly shattered the morale of his army. Vrrmik was caught up in the terror and fled as well.[4f]
This was the turning point of the conflict, for across the Empire the unbeatable verminous multitudes quickly transformed into a bedraggled mass. Mandred, now called "Mandred Skavenslayer," rallied the surviving Elector Counts and led the anti-Skaven crusade. As their own plague now raged through their ranks due to the treracherous machinations of the Council of Thriteen back in Skavenblight, resulting in the development of a version of the Black Death that now affected Skaven, the ratmen were defeated in battle after battle.[1b]
Great Skaven Crusade[]
After the great victory of the Imperial forces at Middenheim, Mandred, now Graf of Middenheim following the death of his father, rallied his army and liberated the city of Carroburg in 1119 IC. Utilising the Dwarf sappers that came with him from Middenheim, the imposing Schloss Hochenbach, where the Skaven had finally overrrun the court of Boris Goldgather, collapsed into the river.[5a]
However, with victory came questions. The officers of the Imperial army and Mandred debated the fate of the province. Some wished to annex the region into Middenland, while others wished to restore the Drakwald as a Grand Province of the Empire. Two Elector Counts, Baroness Carin and Count Van de Dujin of the Westerland, arrived and both pleaded for assistance. Mandred agreed and prepared to march his army north.[5a]
The Imperial army moved northwards and away from the desolation of the Drakwald. The army was ready at a moment's notice to fight, as all knew the Skaven's penchant for deception and treachery by this time. A large group of scouts had been conducting reconnaissance ahead of the main force of the army when some of the horses began to panic. The entire column stopped marching as Mandred moved forwards to investigate. It was then that Hulda, the witch Mandred had first met in the Drakwald, stepped out and gave warning of a Skaven force preparing an ambush at Salzenmund. Mandred wheeled the army around, and marched through Laurelorn Forest. Although a hundred of his troops fell victim to the dangers of that magical forest, the Imperials managed to march hundred of leagues in a few hours, making it worth the cost in lives.[5a]
Battle of Diterschafen (1119 IC)[]
The city of Dietershafen in Nordland, the stronghold of the Skaven in the region, was the centre of their slaving operations and the home of the Skaven fleet that plagued the Sea of Claws. Mandred crafted an ingenious plan to allow his troops to enter the city. The seasonal fog known as "Manaan's Breath" had blown in strong across the city at that time. Visibility was severely reduced, even more so for daylight-sensitive Skaven eyes. Mandred knew that the ratmen had scouts in the city's towers and disguised his troops by having them carry wheat to appear as farmers.[5b]
The plan worked perfectly, and a unit of Dwarf sappers succeeded in detonating explosives that opened a gap in the wall. Mandred's troops rushed in, slaughtering thousands of unprepared Skaven. Mandred and his Knights of the White Wolf smashed through the enemy defences. The Skaven's Clan Skryre also maintained a presence in the city and unleashed its dreaded warmachines upon the Imperial troops. However, the Imperial army's mounted cavalry utilised the fog and side streets to circle around and obliterate the crews of those vile contraptions. Hundreds of ratmen were pushed into the canal that split the older and newer halves of the city. Most drowned under the weight of their armour and the frenzied movements of their comrades.[5b]
A giant claw, created for defending the city's port, was unleashed onto the city by the ratmen's engineers. The claw annihilated the city and most of its buildings. Mandred and a hand-picked team of warriors rushed up and slaughtered the crew operating the claw before hijacking its mechanism to unleash it upon the Skaven fleet armed with Clan Skryre catapults, that had come to bombard the city with their weapons.[5b]
Under the control of the Imperials, the claw cleaved one Skaven ship clean in half, launching hundreds of Skaven into the water to drown. The craven ratmen navy began to flee in their ships, but Scythar Doom rallied the crew of his Skaven ironclad and tried to launch a salvo towards the claw in the hopes of destroying it. However, the Skaven ironclad's paddlewheel was crushed by the claw, causing it to spin in circles and become easy prey.[5b]
The Battle of Dieterschafen was over and had ended in a great Imperial victory, but the damage to the city was immense. Mandred now altered his campaign's objectives, as the port and shipyards would take months to reconstruct. It was possible a year or more would be required to raise a fleet to attack and reclaim Marienburg: time that could be spent better attacking and driving back the Skaven forces plaguing the other provinces of the Empire.[5c]
Mandred and his council knew that many other provinces were still overrun with Skaven and needed to be cleared. The army would rest from the long march and the ferocious battle to claim Dieterschafen throughout the winter and send detachments throughout Nordland to clear out the remaining nests of Skaven. While the great city of Mordheim had held out with the help of a vast army of the nomadic Ungols, Ropsmenn horse archers, and scattered Imperial forces rallied by Reiksmarshal Everhardt Johannes Boekenfoerde, most of Hochland and Ostland was in the ratmen's hands. Wolfenburg had been under a brutal siege by the Skaven for two cruel long years. Breaking that siege was the next objective of Mandred's campaign.[5c]
Battle of the Fellwald (1122 IC)[]
"Men of Sitrland! Fear no darkness, sons of Queen Freya! The blood of the Asoborns burns pure in your veins! Do not betrya that Legacy!"
- —Mandred von Zelt
After the long campaign through Ostland and the liberation of Wolfenburg, the Imperial army began to recover and met up with the forces of Reiksmarshal Everhardt Johannes Boekenfoerde. However, they soon received pleas for assistance from the province of Stirland. As the growing Imperial army marched to the aid of the people of that Grand Province, they discovered another foe that stood in their way: the Undead. Both the necromancer Frederick Van Hal and the Elector Count of Stirland had been manipulated into conflict with each other through the unlikely alliance of Lothar von Diehl, the treacherous apprentice of Van Hal, and the Voivode of Sylvania von Drak.[5d] Sylvanian troops had ravaged several towns in Stirland, leaving evidence of assaults by the Undead. Von Diehl had also lied to Manfred when he said that Stirland was mobilising its forces against Van Hal. The necromancer had summoned an apocalyptic host of Zombies and Skeleton Warriors, and Wurtbad had conscripted a large force of peasant spearmen to meet them. Mandred managed to send a division of a few thousand Imperial infantry and a large company of knights.[5d]
The chaotic, four-way Battle of the Fellwald that resulted when these forces met was defined by betrayal and unexpected assaults. The Sylvanian detachment of three hundred elite troops, secretly wishing to betray their hated Stirlander overlords during the battle, stayed on the left flank.
The rest of the Great Host of Stirland was arrayed along the tree-line, visible to the Undead but close enough to the forest for cover. Most of Count von Oberreuth of Wurtbad's troops were peasant conscripts. The only mark of a soldier most possessed was a green band tied around their arms. These conscripts carried nothing more than sharpened wooden spears to repel Van Hal's Zombies. Behind the conscripts were the heavy infantry, armed with maces and axes. The knights were located in the rear, waiting for the crucial moment. In the vanguard were the White Swords, a legendary unit of Wurtbad heavy infantry.
Van Hal first unleashed his remaining three Zombie Dragons. He had fielded dozens during the Battle of the Plague Dragons, but his military strength had declined significantly since then. Imperial archers peppered the Undead Dragons' hides, but scores of troops fell to the noxious breath they unleashed through the Stirlander ranks.[5d]
Only the use of firearms by the Dwarf detachment that had accompanied the Imperial troops to the Fellwald managed to take the Undead wyrms down. Van Hal sent in his elite infantry, ancient Stryigen Wights that caused terror when the Stirlanders saw them.[5d]
Meanwhile, Mandred charged the Undead at the head of his elite Knights of the White Wolf, and their assault crushed a great number of the Undead beneath their hooves. The Voivode of Sylvania, von Drak, cursed this outcome, as he had wished for the battle to weaken both of his opponents. The treacherous Sylvanian noble's mood brightened considerably, however, when Van Hal resurrected most of the fallen corpses which proceeded to surround the embattled Imperial heavy cavalry. It was then that the main line of Stirlander infantry crashed into the Undead horde, and the battle intensified.[5d]
It was at this moment that the Sylvanian troops betrayed their Stirlander lords and von Drak ordered his troops to withdraw from the battle. However, the Skaven of Clan Mordkin emerged on their flank. Bonelord Nekrot blew a warpstone-infused horn that unleashed a gale of magical energy, knocking over most of the Imperials. The Clanrats then had an easy time butchering the disorganised and routed Sylvanians. However, Van Hal turned all of his Undead towards the Skaven and the two forces proceeded to annihilate each other. Van Hal allowed his apprentice Lothar to be killed by the fatally wounded Skaven Warlord Nekrot, and since the Imperial army was the only one still standing at the end of the fighting, they proved the pyrrhic victors of the battle.[5d]
Battle of Averheim (1124 IC)[]
"We ride with the dawn. Woe to the man who shows these vermin mercy, for he will find none in me."
- —Mandred Von Zelt before the Battle of Averheim
After Mandred's victory over the Skaven and Undead at Silberwald, he turned his army to defend the southern Electoral Provinces of the Empire. The Skaven had focused most of their assault on Solland, Averland, and Wissenland, and these provinces were crawling with a literally uncountable number of ratmen. The city of Averheim was the main Skaven stronghold in the south. Imperial generals expected that the Skaven were marshalling their forces to attack their ancient enemies, the Dwarfs, at Zhufbar. Despite the fall of greater Averheim to the ratmen, a few hundred brave Imperial souls stubbornly held out in the Averburg, the central, fortified citadel of Averheim.[5d]
The Skaven launched a sortie out to the Imperial camp as Mandred's army settled down for a siege. Consisting mostly of Clan Pestilens Plague Censer-Bearers, they were turned back by the Imperials, but at high cost, including the death of the Ar-Ulric at their hands. Enraged, Mandred ordered an immediate attack on the city.
Dozens of catapults and Dwarf Cannon were brought up and began bombarding the portions of Averheim's walls that Imperial scouts had identified as weak points. Entire columns of ratmen were crushed beneath the chunks of masonry that Imperials used as cannon missiles. However, the main Imperial assault was focused on the gates just as the Human infantry began to move up to begin their own attack on the walls. The Skaven Clan Skab, Clan Mors, and Clan Rictus had all invested significant forces to defend the city, and thousands upon thousands of their warriors now infested its streets.[5e]
The Dwarf artillery battered the walls, and the final barrage was focused on the Imperials prime targets, the weak points in the walls. The infantry rushed forward into the gaps created by the cannon-fire, pushing through the weak Skavenslaves defending the walls. However, the Skaven Warlord Vrrmik of Clan Mors had planned for this eventuality, and unleashed his Stormvermin and armoured Clanrats in tunnels the Skaven had dug behind the breaches in the walls. Terror swelled in the Imperial ranks as they were suddenly surrounded by two mighty hosts of the ratmen.[5d]
Mandred's heavy cavalry, trying to reach the defenders inside the Averburg, managed to hold their own against the Skaven assault, but his infantry were near collapse. Only the Dwarfen contingent managed to thrive amidst the harsh combat with their ancient foes. Their unbreakable shield wall advanced like a rock, leaving hundreds of Skaven dead behind in its iron-shod wake. Ancient warcries bellowed out from Dwarfen throats as the two age-old rivals slaughtered each other without mercy. [5d]
Plague Monks were brought up by Clan Pestilens to deal with the hardy Dwarfs, but it was at that moment that the Dwarf warriors' shield wall opened. Several dozen Dwarf Rangers emerged and flung axes into the Skaven horde. The Rangers fought with desperation, glad even as they died that they had preserved the Dwarf formation.[5d]
As the Skaven Warlord Vrrmik moved forward, he recoiled in shock when Mandred's scent struck him. The Skaven had taken too long to break the Imperial and Dwarf forces, and the Imperial heavy cavalry finally crashed into the Skaven's lines like an armoured avalanche, crushing the exhausted Stormvermin sent to block them. Mandred personally wounded Vrrmik when he slashed off the warlord's ear with his Runefang blade Legbiter. Although his horse had been lost in the melee, Mandred survived the fall from his mount. The Skaven army, once again seeing their invincible lord defeated, routed in complete panic, allowing the Imperials to liberate Averheim. [5d]
Battle of the Howling Hills (1124 IC)[]
After the great Imperial victory at Averheim, Mandred ordered an Imperial army to mop up the Skaven remaining in the cities of Pfeildorf and Wissenburg, which had become centres of Skaven slavery among the surviving Men of the Empire. Mandred was soon to hear disheartening reports of what had befallen his detached forces. The Skaven had counter-attacked in Stirland, slaughtering entire villages.[5h]
Mandred consulted once more with the witch Hulda and performed a ritual with her aid and using the remains of the Clan Mors warlord Vrrmik's ear still in his possession to determine the next location of the Skaven assault, which proved to be the Howling Hills in Hochland. Mandred knew that one more decisive battle was needed to finally defeat the Skaven. If the ratmen continued to rampage across previously liberated provinces of the Empire, his troops would feel bound to return to their homes and defend them. Thus, unless the Skaven were defeated soon, Mandred's army would simply melt away.[5h]
To prevent this, Mandred force-marched his troops through Stirland and Talabecland. Once they reached Hochland, they found no rest. The Skaven had devoured every ounce of food they could find, rendering the province bare of fodder for the Imperial troops and their beasts of burden.
The Skaven had chosen their battleground well. The gorges and ravines of Hochland naturally suited their ambush-focused tactics. These natural features offered shelter from Imperial archers and other missile units, forcing Mandred to march to meet the Skaven in melee. This terrain robbed the Humans of their two main tactical advantages: their heavy cavalry and their archers. However, Mandred knew his forces had something the ratmen didn't. They were Men. The Skaven were ultimately all driven by fear and avarice, but such qualities could only push them so far. Men fought with courage and valour, something their enemy utterly lacked.[5h]
As the battle began, the Imperial artillery was set behind the archer line, and the heavy cavalry was left in reserve, ready to run down any retreating Skaven. For his part, Vrrmik of Clan Mors knew he had to send the correct number of Clanrats into the battleline if he wanted to best the Humans. He didn't want the enemy to break immedieatly, but he needed enough ratmen troops to pin them in place.[5h]
As the Skaven line charged, they suffered horrendous casualties from the Imperial spearmen and veteran archers. Mandred and Arch Lector Hartwich of the Cult of Sigmar fought ferociously. Mandred wielded the legendary warhammer of Sigmar, Ghal Maraz, while Hartwich had borrwed the Middenland Runefang Legbiter from the Graf of Middenheim. As the battle unfolded, the Skaven line was pushed back again and again. The ratmen fought like solitary beasts, trampling their own wounded and refusing to help each other. Meanwhile the Imperial line stood firm, as each Imperial unit aided each other in the face of the Skaven onslaught.[5h]
Mandred unleashed his artillery even as the Skaven poured in. The flaming cannon fire immolated dozens of the ratmen with each strike. The Imperial artillery focused on the thin line where the ratmen emerged from their subterranean hiding places. As the cannon fire mowed them down, the Skaven line faltered, then began to rout as the Imperial infantry pursued and slaughtered them. Many fled into the tunnels below. [5h]
The glory-thirsty lesser Skaven chieftains and Skaven warlords forced their troops back into the meat grinder, which was exactly what Mandred had counted upon. In pursuing this strategy, the Skaven were unwisely abandoning their cover and scurrying straight into the Imperial archers' line of fire. The Imperial heavy cavalry was then unleashed by the graf as the ratmen charged the archers, and the knights proceeded to swiftly massacre what remained of the entire Skaven assault.
Vrrmik, knowing that the battle would soon be lost unless he acted quickly to stem the losses, sent his elite Stormvermin and Plague Monks into combat against Mandred's own position. He and the Clan Pestilens Lord of Decay Puskab Foulfur, the original creator of the Black Death, joined them in this final breakneck assault, but Mandred swung down the legendary warhammer Ghal Maraz and crushed Vrrmik's skull. With the death of their war leader, the Skaven lost all heart for the fight and the battle was won by the Empire, although nearly a fifth of the Imperial combatants lay dead.[5h]
Aftermath[]
The Skaven were too depleted by disease and war to continue fighting. They had captured so many Human slaves during the campaign that the Lords of Decay feared a revolt. So the Council of Thirteen decided to build up their strength before another assault, but it was not to be.[1b]
Over the next 25 years the Men of the Empire recovered more rapidly than the Lords of Decay thought possible. Under Emperor Mandred II's dynamic rule, towns were rebuilt, land was resettled, and refugees returned. Even worse from the Skaven's point of view, Mandred ordered a constant guard against the ratmen, creating organisations such as the Sewer Watch to halt further incursions. In the Under-Empire, the predicted Human slave revolt did occur, along with further outbreaks of the Black Death -- now a strain that was infectious to the ratmen as well -- that destroyed entire clans (suspiciously, many thought).[1b]
The Council of Thirteen convened at the Under-Empire's capital at Skavenblight and recriminations flew between the plaguelords of Clan Pestilens and the rest of the council. There were many compensation demands from disease-ridden clans and many accusations of assassination attempts were levelled. Eventually, a decision was made to delay all further operations against the Empire, save for a single act of vengeance.[1b]
A Clan Eshin Assassin broke into the Imperial Palace and slew Emperor Mandred II. False evidence of a mutant atrocity was left before the Skaven agent escaped into the sewers. To this day, Imperial scholars fail to connect the Black Death, the Skaven incursion, and the murder of the emperor. Over time the Skaven were dismissed as a threat to the Empire and within centuries of the end of the Skaven Wars what was known about the ratmen became so enshrouded in myth and legend that many among the race of Men now refuse to believe in their existence at all.[1b]