2534 - Socket bayonets are developed for muskets removing the need for close combat formations.
2535 - An invention is copied from the dwarfs and combined with a touch of human innovation to produce rifling and the Minié ball. This leads to the development of the "Rifle Musket" the device is quickly spread though out the imperial army and musketeers replaces all of the empire's standing army.
2536 – Archaon the Everchosen begins his 'final war' from the north hoards of chaos worshipers push south. In the Kislev town of Bealton, the Empire and there ally meet the hoard. The Chaos troops army is defeated and the Archaon routed. Central to the Imperial victory is the use of the new military formations.
2537 - Following Bealton, the Imperial Army is remodeled. Musketeers replace pike men and halberdiers as the primary line troops.
2538 – The Empire's "New Model Army" routs an Orc Waaagh! on the edge of the Drakwald Forest with ease.
2538 - The Imperial College of Engineers in Nuln is tasked with the reform of the Imperial Artillery Train to complement the New Model Army. In order to do this, all existing artillery pieces are reclassified based on the weight of the shot that they fire, and several new designs are created. 2-pounder light cannon enter service with the Imperial Horse Artillery, and provide highly mobile support for more aggressive commanders, whilst 12 and 16-pound "field guns" become the standard artillery pieces of the Imperial Army. 24 and 36-pound siege guns are also developed, and mortars are separated into 16 and 24-pounders. The production of more esoteric and unreliable artillery pieces, such as the Hellblaster Volley Gun and Rocket Launcher is discontinued at this time.
2539 - Richard von Gustva publishes his treatise "On the Use of Firearms in Warfare", in which he prophesizes that in future "all victory will sprout from the barrel of a gun". He also claims that the destiny of the Empire is to rule over all the lands of man, and beyond.
2541 - Emperor Karl Franz dies peacefully.
2542 - On a massive wave of popular support, the Elector Counts appoint Graf Boris Todbringer, as Emperor.
2543 - Albert Gatling perfects his design for a six-barreled repeating rifle. Officially designated as the "Gatling Gun", but quickly nicknamed "Coffee grinder" by Imperial troops, Gatling's new weapon astounds military commentators and commanders alike, with its ability to fire up to three hundred shots per minute, whilst being serviced by only two crewmen. The Emperor orders that one be issued to each battalion of musketeers. The design is remarkable similar to a dwarf naval anti air weapon.
2547 - The Emperor dispatches a force of five thousand musketeers, supported by two thousand cavalry and an artillery train of more than four hundred pieces to purge Sylvania of the taint of the Vampire Counts once and for all, under the command of Stefan von Gustva, son of the famed military tactician Richard Von Gustva.
2549 - A legion of over fifteen thousand undead meets Stefan at the fords of the River Stir within cannon range of Wurtbad, led by a coalition of the most powerful amongst the vampiric aristocracy. Stefan promptly digs in. After two days of waiting, the vampires launch a massed assault on his forces. As the undead struggle to cross the Stir, the Imperial artillery opens fire, scything down thousands. Less than half of the horde reaches the far bank of the Stir, which becomes dammed by corpses. As the undead army enters musket range, Stefan personally gives the order for the infantry to fire. The highly trained musketeers shred the enemy ranks with lethally efficient volleys, destroying the majority of the host within minutes. Sensing victory, Stefan orders his cavalry forwards, resulting in the surviving undead being run down with ease. However, the vampire leaders escape into the woods of Sylvania. Having crushed the military might of the Counts, Stefan's army spreads out to begin the "pacification" of Sylvania begins, an operation that is to last for eight years.
2552 - A regiment of infantry under Colonel Icondra is tasked with escorting a shipment of muskets and ammunition to the main Imperial encampment at Reuth Losa. Whilst resting overnight in the village of Pressien, they are attacked by a large force of undead, commanded by the vampire Hans Drenner, a survivor of Stefan's victory in 2549. Hopelessly outnumbered, Icondra orders his men to hand out the muskets they had been transporting to those villagers wish to fight. Amazingly, every man and teenage boy in the village volunteers, and Icondra is able to mount a successful defense of the wooden palisades surrounding Pressien. When outriders from Reuth Losa arrive three days later to investigate the missing supplies, they find Pressien in the hands of the living, and Drenner's head on a spike. Stefan is greatly impressed with the courage of the Pressians, and forms a regiment of Pressian volunteers. Colonel Icondra is promoted to Brigadier, and charged with forming a Sylvanian Corps to support Stefan's forces. He makes his headquarters at Pressien, which begins to expand as locals flock to the safety of the Imperial forces.
2553-2556 - Icondra launches a massive recruitment drive across Sylvania; dozens arrive at Pressien to enlist every day. By 2556, the Sylvanian Corps is fully mobilized, consisting of three thousand musketeers, one thousand cavalry, and fifty artillery pieces. Brigadier Icondra is promoted to General, and is ordered to lead his Sylvanians against the last stronghold of the Vampire Counts: Drakenhof.
2556 - Icondra's Sylvanians storm Drakenhof after a week-long siege. Although the Imperial forces triumph, and the vampires of Sylvania are destroyed, less than five hundred men survive the attack. General Icondra orders his artillery to reduce Drakenhof to rubble, and leads his surviving men back to Pressien.
2557 - Eight years after the first shot was fired outside of Wurtbad, Stefan signs the Declaration of Pressien, which proclaims Sylvania to be officially pacified, and ready to become a full Imperial province. The Emperor ratifies the Declaration, and Pressien becomes the new capital of Sylvania. Elections are held amongst the people, and Stefan von Gustva is chosen as the first Elector Count.
2558 - The Pressian Military Academy is founded in the growing city of Pressien by General Icondra, with the aim of teaching the officers of the Imperial army how to use the men under their command more effectively. Pressien becomes a renowned center of military learning.
2560 - An Orc horde rampages through Ostland, burning a number of villages. An Imperial army under the Sylvanian General Reinhardt Tarein intercepts them at Englesdorf, and through the clever deployment of 2-pounder cannon is able to rout the Orcs in short order. Only two hundred Imperial soldiers are killed, and Tarein is hailed as a hero throughout the Empire.
2562 - The first group of young officers graduates from the Pressian Military Academy.
2564 - A "minor" border clash between General Tarein's army and a force Bretonnia knights results in the unavenged death of dozens of Bretonnia nobles. The Bretonnias dub the Gatling Guns "pipe organs from hell", and retreat across the border, but not before Reinhardt Tarein has been slain by Lord Cariden. Under the temporary command of Brigadier Kagemann, the Imperial army halts. Several days after the battle, several Sylvanian soldiers serving in the army decide to avenge Tarein's death. They sneak across the the border and ambush Lord Cariden and his retinue during a hunt. The bodies of Cariden and his men are mutilated, and then strung from trees along the border. The killers are caught upon their return to the Imperial camp, where Brigadier Kagemann has them shot at dawn in order to try and prevent further Bretonnia retaliation. War is averted, but relations remain frosty for the next twenty years.
2570 - Emperor Graf Boris Todbringer, is killed while touring Sylvania by elven assassins. The Sylvanians, a people fiercely loyal to the Emperor who led them from the shadows, are enraged. 3 days later the High Elf ambassador to the Empire is killed by a single shot from a hunting rifle. The assassin is never caught. In retaliation, the elves withdraw all their support for the Empire against the forces of Chaos in the North.
2571 - Otto Grisden becomes Emperor. He seeks to replace the High Elves as allies by courting the Dwarf High King, Thorken Ironhelm. The Dwarves readily agree to an alliance with the Empire, especially since the Empire is no longer allied to their ancestral elven enemies. The population and wealth of the Empire grows with the benefit of Dwarven trade.
2575 - Elven raids along the western coast of the Empire kill hundreds. The Emperor accuses the rulers of Ulthuan of attempting to start a war, which the elves deny, but King Ironhelm warns the Emperor of the untrustworthiness of elves, citing the example of the War of the Beard.
2576 - The Emperor tries to repair Imperial relations with the High Elves by dispatching emissaries to Ulthuan. The Imperial diplomats never reach their destination, and although the elves protest their innocence, Emperor Otto is convinced of their involvement.
2757 - Emperor Otto, backed by King Ironhelm, severs diplomatic relations with Ulthuan.
2760 - Emperor Otto, passed a reform bill of the collage of engineers, decree, that "It shall be done, that all national engineers shall commit a copy of all blue prints, designs, out lines to a national archive. the submitted designs must be proven accurate as compared to the engineers master lest he forfeit his patronage. Any man found using the designs of engineer with out prier approval, as long as the inventor or the inventor's next of kin live. The despite the disapproval of the engineering guild it passes into effect.
2580 - Court Stefan von Gustva dies. His successor is his son Richter von Gustva, a graduate of the Pressian Military Academy.
2583 - The number of border clashes with the Bretonnias increases. The Emperor orders Electoral Count Richter of Sylvania to send forces to defend Axebite Pass.
2584 - An Imperial fleet chases an elven raiding vessel into Bretonnia waters. Bretonnia ships attack the Imperial fleet, but are no match for the Iron clad ships of the Empire, and are swiftly destroyed. The Bretonnias demand compensation from the Empire for the loss of their ships and men. Emperor Otto refuses, and moves more troops to the border.
2585 - An Imperial patrol is attacked just inside the Empire by Bretonnia knight-errants. Seeing an excuse for war, the Emperor orders the invasion of Brettonia. Led by Count Richter von Gustva, ten thousand Imperial soldiers march through Axebite Pass, sweeping aside the roadside forts and defenses with ease, before sacking the towns and villages surrounding Parravon.
2586 - King Xevion of Brettonia orders the Duke of Belphin to meet the Imperial forces at Breitenfield. The Duke musters five thousand knights, supported by twelve thousand men-at-arms. The smaller Imperial army forms a gunline, and awaits the Bretonnia charge. The Bretonnia nobles oblige, and are cut down with ease by the Imperial Musketeers. With their lords slain, the commoners flee, allowing von Gustva to lead his forces deeper into Brettonia. Breitenfield cements the dominance of the rifle over cavalry.
2587 - The Bretonnia king makes a last stand at the battle of Iddern, along with several hundred of his household knights. Charging at the Imperial lines, he and his men are wiped out with a single volley. As his father did in Sylvania, Richter von Gustva orders his men to spread out and pacify the defeated Bretonnias.
2590 - After three years of fighting, Bretonia is formally annexed. The provinces of Ideras, Brean, Vicky and Gulla are formed and the elector counts are chosen. Richter Von Gustva returns to Sylvania. For five years an uneasy peace reigns throughout the Empire.
2595 - Elven raiders sack the city of Iteran on the northern coast. Emperor Otto himself embarks for Ulthuan on a desperate mission of peace, aboard the Imperial flagship Hammer of Sigmar He is never seen again.
2596 - A year after it left, a lone sailor from the "Hammer of Sigmar" is washed ashore on the Brean coast. He claims that High Elves destroyed the ship, and killed Emperor Otto.
2597 - The Elector count of Sylvania, Richter Von Gustva, is made Emperor. He gains assurances from King Ironhelm that the Dwarves will support the Empire in a war against Ulthuan.
2599 - Emperor Richter orders the construction of a massive invasion fleet.
2600 - Thirty thousand Imperial soldiers set sail for Ulthuan. After several weeks they encounter the first elven ships.
'My initiative won us a great victory!' No. That sort of tone was too arrogant before his lord. "My lord, I am honored to inform you that..." No! Far too subservient…
There was nothing the Dread lord Irenekon Fighterrider feared. He head fought, raided and killed his way from frozen Norsca, to hot Lustria, to far away Carthy and Nippon. But still, only two beings could inspire fear in his black iron heart.
One of them was Tyrion of the high elves, Irenekon skin crawled in the memory of that battle, of a blade moving like quick silver and blood flowing thicker and faster then even the most frantic sacrifices to Khaine.
But it was not to Tyrion he be supplicating himself. It was to the other being.
The great Witch King: a being older then his blood line, and crueler then any who might have sired him, and considering he had the blood of witch hags and more then a few assassins in his veins, that was no pikers claim
The Dread Lord walked down the long hallways of the palace of the Witch King, armored boot ringing lightly off the stonework.
While he was sure of his victory, he had no way of knowing for sure the Witchking's reaction and if he chose his words wrong, his head would leave his shoulder faster then a mantis catches a mouse.
And at the last moment: he was second-guessing his own speech. It had taken months to get this audition only by insisting it was important, important enough that if he did not please his lord. He would die slowly.
Consequently he had gone the extra mile, or kilometer as the humans would have put it, polishing his coal black armor till it gleamed like a black marble tombstone, his cape of cold one hide was waxed till it gleamed.
But as he approached his one true lord, as he fell under the soulless dark pits that were his gaze he knew, he could not impress such a being with mere appearance.
He remember what he had been told, and when he was roughly three yards away from the throne he fell to his knees offering the supplication "My lord." 'There that's the tone!' he thought. 'Not bad, not too self confident or meek! Right?' sweat dripped from his face dropping onto a well-worn stain in the silk carpet.
The Witch King spoke, in a voice that was as harsh as a knife grating against bone, and as cold as a winter tombstone.
"Why are you here?"
Irenekon had to fight to keep his voice steady as he replayed.
"My lord, I wish to report upon a plot which will aid the conquest of Ulthuan." Irenekon face was pointed toward the floor so he missed it, but the Witch king seemed to slightly, perk up with interest. How could this worm before him aid in the war to claim Ulthuan?
"Speak then." He did not need to threaten to tell Irenekon that his fate resented upon the answer.
The Dread Lord hesitated, swallowed, and then spoke.
"My lord, for many years my warriors have raided the Empire, and when I saw how the Empire responded to a border clash with the Bretonnias saw a chance to try and split the ties between Ulthuan and Altdorf."
The Witch King regarded him coldly. "Why was I not told?"
"Had it failed my lord, my fate would have been sealed upon a alter. By acting on my own, and with my own resources I risked only my wealth for the great boons and benefits."
The Witch King smiled coldly. He could appreciate treachery when it was used for him.
"I see. Continue."
"Yes my lord. For years we have masqueraded as High Elves, and inflicted great harm upon the Empire. We have driven a wedge between the High Elves and the Empire, just as you did with the Dwarves."
The Witch King looked at his lackey, intrigued as possibilities ringing though his head.
"And?"
There was a look of triumph upon the Dread Lord's face as he delivered the ultimate result of his plan
"The empire seeks to invade Ulthuan, their 'great' Ironclads steam south as we speak."
The Witch King threw back his head, and laughed, a cold dead thing that had no right masquerading as a thing of humor. A sound that would make a dragon pause in fear.
"When the humans have weakened the defenses of Ulthuan, and worn down their forces we will launch our assault and crush them both." He pointed at the warrior who had made this chance at victory possible.
"You shall be richly rewarded. What do you desire?"
Irenekon grinned in feral anticipation of the coming bloodshed, and that he was still alive.
"A place in the front of the battle, and to be the first warrior off the ships after yourself, my lord."
The Witch King raised a fist and laughed again, the cold laugh of a killer. The he looked down Irenekon the kneeling before him.
"You will have it! This time Ulthuan will fall!"