The Battle of Stone Falls

Righty,

The armies met, the forces lined up and prepared to do battle. 

The forces of the dead got the first turn and stumbled up. The curses of the Ithric were too much for the Otto's Banner bearer (BSB dead). With unnatural speed the Graveguard occupied the Manor.

In return the glory seeking Knights Errant charged head first into the first unit of 100 zombies. The Winds of Magic were not kind, but there was enough for Gunther to give the Errants the ability to move twice as fast as normal. The Gunshow opened up with a fizz. Underwhelming display from the Helblasters vs no regen Crypthorrors and 2 cannons = 5 dead crypt horrors and only 1 wound on the Mortis Engine. A treb decides to blow up too :(

The Knights Errant plow into the hordes, who (through an odd 8th rule) still get a ldship 10 reform even though almost 50 died.

The banshees decided to pop out to cause mayhem. The Great Swords are not having any of it and "tactically retreat". The varghiests smash into the pegknights. 

The choir decides to sing. Even though the Errants are ldship 10, 5 are brought down. The Pegknights hold, saving the Great Swords from ruin. 

The Bret lord drinks his Potion of Foolishness and promptly fails to charge the remaining Crypthorrors. 

Gunther and his apprentice unleash their magical might on the 6 strong varghiest unit, drawing out a scroll - but not before a few are slain. The Helblasters turn their attention to the Ghouls stripping their ranks. The cannons smash into the crypthorrors, yet fall short of the Mortis Engine. 

What remains of the Ghouls charges into the first Helblaster. 1 Spirit host runs into the (detachment rule) steadfast archer detachment. Direwolves charge through the vemon thickett to begin the butchering of the Brettonian archer levy

. 

The Graveguard kindly decide to exit the Manor so the Sisters and their swordsmen can occupy it.With more unnatural speed they move forward into a very vulnerable position...but save Ithric from Grailknights to the face. 

2 more Knights errant and the non charged Helblaster die to scream - panicking the Engineer. The Varghiests finish off the Pegknights and prepare to get charged by the GreatSwords. The Direwolves are so brutal that another unit of Bret Archers panic off the board having witnessed the needless slaughter. Helblaster is ripped apart as the ghouls continue their advance in the Engineer. 

So something has to go right, right? Otto and his bodyguard frontal charge the Graveguard while the Grailknights smash the flank. The Bret Lord and his Knights of the Rhelm also charge the Crypthorrors. Not to be outdone, the Captasus and his sidekick Bret buddy flank the OTHER 100 zombie horde.

With all the dice in the world Gunther, try as he might, could not lose control - all that training, and the undead scroll a bubble timewarp. Instead the archers, magic missiles, and a healthy sized unit of GreatSwords remove all Varghiests from the battlefield. The Graveguard are SMASHED...but not enough to remove them. Otto's ancient luck charms work as 4 KB's are warded. Ithric takes 2 wounds form the Captasus. The Crypthorrors are finally slain. 

Ghouls and doggies continue to rip through the Human backlines. 8 Graveguard get back up and the choir has a doom and darkness inspired American Idol worthy performance...

Yup...the Brets seem to have all disappeared! The knights Errant run, while the Bretlord passes his break test with insane courage...alone holding off the Ghoulking and his wrightking 2IC.

In more happy news, the Greatswords smash up the direwolves they had overrun into having dealt with the Varghiests. No ones to lose momentum the overran into the fellbats with their eyes on Father Lukas and his blasphemous cult.

Gunther has more luck this time and bubbles Timewarp resulting in the removal of the Graveguard. Try as he might (6+ warding a KBlow attempt), the BretLord loses his steel and runs. 

Seeing a bad thing when it comes, the Necromancer who had been secretly helping Father Lukas jumps from the unit. Screams, Mortis Engine (one 1 annoying wound) continues to pulse. Otto is having none of this and tactically retreats through the Manor. Seeing Otto's redeployment the Captasus and sidekick also retreat from the horde who fail to catch them..but open themselves for the charge of all charges...

The Grailknights charge in! the Sisters and their Swordsmen approach the zombie horde from the rear. Gunther sees the change and grants the Grail knights unnatural speed. Captasus and his sidekick rally in support. 1 Very brutal combat and this is the result when Timewarped Grailknights flank 90ish zombies:

In other news the Greatswords smash into Father Lukas and his cult, slaying the father, but the cultists remain troublesome. 

The Undead flank into the Grail knights to try swing the combat.

A few screams later and the Grail Knights are no more....but neither are the Cultists...so all the fluff missions achieved...

With their eyes on the prize that is Ithric, the Sisters, Captasus and his sidekick charge the zombie bodyguard. The sidekick is felled, but the sheer weight of attacks and divine guidance of Sigmar and Ithric finds himself exposed.

However, there the battle ends. The capture of Ithric a turn away, but the tide had turned long before that point. Otto and Gunther surveying the battle from beyond the manor see no signs of the Brettonian's who had arrived to help. The undead are less numerous than before...but an uncomfortable number remain along with a very battered looking machine of blasphemy. The battle may have been lost, but the war had only just begun. Otto knew that his part in this story was about to get  a whole lot more interesting...