After a
several months fighting the rat men had not broken through the underways to
Lord Brouhaha’s hold, Hullabaloo. Now reports were coming in of an over land
force heading into the human farmland essential for the holds existence. The
threat was serious, by all accounts the humans had already run and Hullabaloo,
used to being supplied from above in times of underway war had not stock piled
food. That the vile, cunning ratmen may be playing a rouse was also a possibility.
Lord
Brouhaha had resolved to take a small force of doughty warriors, crossbow men
and Agnetha and Anni-Frid his two dwarf-packed bolt throwers. The girls were
well known for a succession of popular killer hits. He would then meet up with
the Dragon Clan, obsessed with fire and black powder these dwarven gun nuts
guarded the main route from the low lands to the upper passes of Hullabaloo. Brouhaha
could rely on Fred Martini to bring along at least a unit of his red coated
clans men, some armed with hand guns and of course his cannon.
To ensure
no ambush was being set Bruhaha would send one of his gyrocopters ahead, any
thing suspicious and the pilot Raoul Halfner would report back.
Lore master
Daniels approached; Bruhaha liked him but not a lot. It was hard to like the
smug ginger midget particularly after he had taken to spending most of his time
locked away with that odd looking succubus he found so alluring, the lovely D’bee
he called her. The very thought sent shivers down Lord Brouhahas spine. “Hoo,
hoo”, Daniels intoned in his chirpy little voice. “you can rely on me my lord,
and the lovely D’bee, hoo hoo.”
“No”, replied
Brouhaha, ”I command you to come but that devil of yours stays here, I’ll need
your mind on the job”
“Oh” moped
small Daniels, “now that’s tragic.”
Within
hours the expeditionary force was ready to leave, the march would last but two
days if no manling like rests were taken. Outside the gates of Hullabaloo a
band of oath breakers waited. With their red hair, lack of armour and blue tattoos
the oath breaking troll slayers were a welcome if ill disciplined addition to
the force.
“We, the Ginger
Nuts will company you.” Shouted the apparent leader of the band.
Lord Brouhaha
nodded his consent.
“Hoho what
a peculiar name”, chirped Small Daniels
“Not
really,” Said the head slayer. “We are all ginger and we are all nuts.”
“Very good.”
Replied Brouhaha.
“That is
not all my Lord. We also all enjoy the round flat twice backed cakes containing
ginger that the lowland farmers bake so well.”
“Very good.”
Replied Brouhaha.
“And you
will also find that each and every one of us has an enormous pair of….”
“I said, very
good.” Brouhaha loudly and hastily replied.
Halfner
flew his steam powered gyrocopterover the lowlands scanning the horizon for any
sign of the ratmen. “One more mile”, he thought to himself just as he spotted on
the horizon the thin line that clearly showed the presence of a vermin army
they were moving fast. There was no time to go back, it had already been
decided that “no news is good news”, but to be sure Lord Brouhaha was clear Halfner
dropped one of his lit bombs over the side. The resulting explosion could
surely be heard for miles.
The rat men
extended in large blocks across the human lands enclosed by the spurs of the
mountain. To the left most flank warriors marched accompanied by loathsome rat ogres.
An enormous unit containing several banners held the centre of the line with
yet more rat ogres. Various ratman machines of destruction milled about what
must be the generals unit.
A wood broke the ratmens line but a further unit of
warriors advanced on the far side of it accompanied by a skirmishing unit of
ratman scouts and a trailing unit of reluctant slaves. The sneaky rat warlord
had advance marched his whole army over night!
On a hill to the rear the skaven
set up their loathsome two man cannon. Halfner would need to fly clear of them.
Lord Brouhaha
was at least able to view the ratman dispositions before committing his own
forces. A refused flank would serve well he concluded. Martini’s thunderers and
the gyrocopter would hold the refused flank.
On his own
left Agnetha and Anni-Frid would set up to launch their spite into the
advancing Murine swarm. To protect them, and keep them away from his own
ordered lines he placed the Ginger Nuts.
The center
was held by his own warriors and missile troops along with the ever annoying butu
hopefully useful Small Daniels. Martini’s clansmen would also be in the center
but able to redeploy to the right flank in case it proved not to hold. The center was also steadied by the presence of Roaring Mug Mzartini’s Cannon. The
troops were well deployed. In the coming hours they would show their worth.
