Surtha Lenk was a mighty Kurgan Chaos Lord and Chaos Champion who participated in the invasion of the Old World by the forces of Chaos led by the thirteenth Everchosen Archaon during the End Times. He was slain in battle by the Imperial champion Valten, who wielded Sigmar's magical warhammer Ghal Maraz.[1a]
History[]
End Times[]
Surtha Lenk was one of the many Chaos Champions of the Chaos Gods who attempted to slay Valten during the End Times, only to fall to the power of Ghal Maraz.[2a][3]
Storm of Chaos[]
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Attention, Empire Citizens!
This article or this section of the article contains information regarding the Storm of Chaos campaign and its aftermath, which is now considered a non-canon, alternate timeline.
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The Kurgan Chaos Lord Surtha Lenk, alongside Aelfric Cyenwulf, led the initial assault on Kislev in 2521 IC as part of the alternate timeline in which Archaon's Storm of Chaos campaign against the Old World unfolded.[1a]
Lenk's own army would later meet the combined forces of the Empire, Tilean mercenary regiments and Tzarina Katarin of Kislev's own personal guard at the river crossing of Mazhorod in 2522 IC, where the Kurgan were utterly destroyed while the remnants of Surtha Lenk's army were hunted down in the west by Boyarin Kurkosk.[1a]
According to General Albertalli, the southerners had been lucky to win the battle. They had fought on a river, which initially would have been easy, but the river froze solid in an instant, and the Kurgans were then able to make a powerful assault. A hard and bloody fight ensued, but in the end, Surtha Lenk was defeated.[1a]
Recently Surtha Lenk consolidated control over several Kurgan and Norscan tribes in the Chaos Wastes. He immediately struck out south, guided by dreams or visions of conquest and glory, the realms of mankind brought to their knees, and him, Surtha Lenk, sitting upon a golden throne in the green lands of the south.[4a]
After just four months his armies broke through the armies of Kislev. Nothing now stood between Surtha Lenk’s host and the Empire.[4a]
Another month and his host crossed the border and entered Ostland. Ostland's state army had been mustered in response to reports from Kislev, and was prepared to meet Surtha Lenk's army as he crossed the border. It was caught unprepared from behind by a second Chaos host, this one of Norscans who had sailed the Sea of Claws and marched inland in great secrecy. The greater part of Ostland's strength was destroyed in three hard days of fighting. Elector Valmir von Raukov dispatched messengers to Nordland, Middenland, Ostermark, and Altdorf, requesting aid. Surtha Lenk unleashed his marauders throughout the countryside to intercept the messengers. Many were caught and killed.[4a]
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition Timeline[]
In the alternate timeline of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition, during Surtha Lenk's invasion of the Old World, his horde of Northmen smashed through Smallhof and then pressed into the Forest of Shadows, en route for Wolfenburg, the capital of Ostland. Fortunately for the Ostlanders, the Forest of Shadows is not significantly safer for Northmen than it is for the Men of the Empire, and their going proved slow. The horde only recently reached Wolfenburg, and then was forced to pause to construct siege engines to break through that city's walls.[4a]
Two weeks later, Ostland's call for aid finally reached Altdorf. The messenger died of his wounds before he could deliver more than the broadest details of the situation in Ostland, so Emperor Karl Franz elected to assume the worst. He mustered the Reiksguard and soldiers from Altdorf and the Reikland, and dispatched calls for military aid to Averland, Wissenland, and Stirland. He also instructed the Elector Counts of Talabecland, Hochland, and Middenland to muster their own state armies and prepare to repel the invaders.[4a]
When Karl Franz's call to war reached Averheim, where ther was no living Elector Count, support for the emperor's army was left to the whim of the local nobles, but perhaps surprisingly the great and good of Averheim were almost unanimously in support of the war effort. The Averheim garrison eagerly mustered and marched for Altdorf in a matter of days, under the command of Captain Baerfaust. The garrison was supported by household troops drawn from every local noble house, including Leitdorf and House von Alptraum.[4a]
Graf Friedrich von Kaufman pledged a large sum to the war effort and other local nobles and merchants followed suit, resulting in a surprisingly well-supplied fighting force (except for the suspicious undersupply of blackpowder) marching north. A suspicious mind might say that war is a wonderful opportunity to one-up other contenders for the Electoral seat of Averland.[4a]