Locomotive Works Meinigen, 1 day later
Kurt Müller was not a happy man-his Boss had summoned him urgently and he had a good idea what the summons was about. Any problems with the most important project the Meiningen works currently handled got his Boss ballistic.
"Kurt, what is up with the bloody team that you trained. They have to take the "Hammer" to Altdorf tomorrow and now I am told they are not fit. You told me they are fully trained and ready. This train is to be inspected by the Emperor himself and what can I do now, tell me that!"
"Chef, the crew that I trained was ready as of two days ago, actually they all passed the tests set up by the Railway administration-many with honors. Problem is that they went to a celebration in the new "Imperial" restaurant in the "Stettiner Strasse"-I would have joined if were not for my wedding anniversary. Now the poor suckers all have EHEC infection and will be out for a week at least-more likely longer."
"Oh shit-and now what?"
"I have already asked around with the trainers and some of the workshop people-we can take the train to Altdorf-no drama. I can do the presentation to Karl-Franz, I did it for 05-001 as well. As for the command crew-there is nothing we can do. But the guys from 1st Landwehr seem competent enough. If needs be they can take somebody on board from the Altdorf training center, but this is not our problem to worry about."
"Ok, make it so. Just make sure there is no problem and nothing leaves a scratch on "Hammer" before it is officially handed over"
"No problem Chef-it will go easy as cake"
"From your mouth into Gods ear."
Great Forrest, 1 day later
Captain Reinhold Merz saw the position indicator on his map display wander to the point where the next scheduled course change was due. So far this flight was mostly routine for him, it was just longer. The many reports that the Empire and the KSK teams had send about several huge groups of potential hostiles moving through the Great Forest needed confirmation. So the Luftwaffe had send several "Reece" Tornados to check the scope of the incursion.
While the plane was quite old-actually older than its crew-it was blindingly fast, had good range thanks to its ultra-efficient (and ultra-complicated three-spool) turbofan engines and could carry quite some payload. That measured against the yardstick of "Old Earth" it was not very maneuverable, took too many maintenance hours and had a low acceleration and high RCS was of no account in this environment. An Air-to Air refueling by an Airbus 330 Tanker over the Empire made sure that the range would indeed match requirements and also made sure that his ass was by now long asleep.
His GIB (Guy in Back) had a much better time since about half an hour as the Infrared pod under his craft obviously gave interesting readings. Some of the Data was already send back to base for evaluation, the rest would be taken from his pod after return to base.
The course change brought his plane closer to the heart of the area he was tasked to check. This meant he was the first human to see the birth of the storm.
In its middle a huge column of something which looked like black lightning reached into the sky. From a point where it started to loose coherence a disk of the colors of a nasty bruise spread in an ever-widening circle. Merz still was about to change course when the multicolored disc went over his plane. The lighting inside the Tornado immediately changed from the usual bright light to a depressingly psychedelic light show. The Weapons Officer which so far had been in blissful ignorance looked up from his display. "What is this….."
The first black lightning to hit the speeding plane already managed to kill most electronics despite the magic ward on the planes nose. No ordinary lightning should have been able to do this, but this particular variety obeyed different rules. That alone would have been enough to bring down the plane but numerous other strikes dismantled the craft as surely as a missile hit.
Both crewmembers ejected safely just to be swept upwards by immense drafts, never to be seen again.
Imperial Academy, Altdorf, same time
Hannes Flammbach had shut down his view into the Empyrian in time-half his students had not managed to do so. They were on the ground, cramping having foam in their mouths-sometimes bloody, and some were speaking words which were decidedly not designed for the human throat.
Whatever this incursion from the warp was-it was huge and bad.
Hangar, Laager Middenheim, same date
Nathan Alpers shot the cultist from less than 5 meters before the asshole could put a dagger into his chest. The 3-round burst took off the top of the cultist head cleanly-which did not please the pilot as he had aimed for center of mass. He put a new magazine into his MP7-his next to last. He had been in the hangar this late in the evening to help with the maintenance of his beloved Stroch when the screaming had begun. He was still getting his bearings when a number of crazed looking, dagger wielding men stormed the Hangar attacking everybody and everything in sight.
His frequent trip into the Imperial Wilderness had made wearing a personal defense weapon second nature and his submachine gun had saved his life as well as the lives of several Bundeswehr personal. After having shot 3 of them the rest of the shift had found enough time to draw what arms there were and kill the rest of the cultists.
For about 5 Minutes everything had gone quiet then and Nathan had tried to organize a more effective defense. That was a good thing as even more cultists tried to storm the Hangar. The first two waves had been fended off more or less easily-but now ammo was running low. Nathan had appropriated a long extension bar from a socket set for a last ditch effort but really hoped he would not need it. Before his thoughts went further a scrawny man jumped through the ruins of a Window next to the pilot. Landing awkwardly he was still looking for targets when the German put another burst through his chest. He had shot the next cultist before there were no more targets to be found. Looking skeptically at his last ammo Nathan became aware of other figures entering the Hangar. He caught himself in time-these were too different from the cultists. Huge armored men with white fur over their shoulders wielding huge war hammers indicated that the warriors of Ulric had arrived.
It took Nathan more than one hour to realize that he was the senior surviving officer, the only surviving pilot and very far from home.
Castle Wolfenfels, Great Forest, Next morning
Ernst Hermann watched the sky with awe and dread. Ever since yesterday something like a huge storm front had expended from the forest. It was no storm that Hermann or anybody else in the castle had ever seen-wildly shifting colors of purple, red blue and black, movement of clouds with no wind and sudden gusts which left the front unperturbed. One did not need to be a mage to feel the raw Chaos which suffused the colorful clouds. Thankfully whatever looked there like a storm but was not had stopped a few kilometers in front of the castle, but it`s presence was felt by everyone.
Currently he was out with a platoon of riflemen to watch over a group of worker which tore down some buildings which were too close to the castle and could give cover to the enemy. While he kept a lookout for any advance troops of the Chaos army that was approaching he could not help but have a look at the refugees which passed him on the way to the castle. There had been several groups, from traders of the roads to the villagers of the outside farms. Now the last of them was centered on a sturdy looking covered cart which was pulled by a horse and pushed by several scrawny looking men and women who wanted to reach what security the castle might offer.
Then they were there-in one second nothing-in the next a long raggedly line of sparsely clothed warriors stepped from the brushes below him on the ascend to the castle. They were all big, swarty and kept their hair loose or in topknots. The had few armor and only half of them had shields which explained why they could move so quickly and quietly. About one third of them looked like they wanted to use throwing axes-it was time to do something about that before they got into range. While a lookout started banging loudly on a board to alert the workers he tried to project a calm façade when addressing the Sergeant of the riflemen.
"Sergeant Erk, form a double line to the left. Open fire as soon as you have alignment. Be prepared to fall backwards after firing the first magazine."
"Aye Ser"
It did not take long for the Riflemen to form the line. It still looked wrong to the KSK officer-half the men stood up, the other half kneeling in front of them, no effort to take cover-but here it seemed the right answer to the problems that presented themselves.
"Shoulder arms" brought 28 K98 rifles up "Fire" a crashing salvo which went through the approaching enemy like a scythe through wheat. 4 more salvoes followed and then the line retreated 20 Steps just to repeat the process. Lieutenant Hermann nodded approvingly, the riflemen held up well. The 5-round firing which followed the relocation began to slow the running advance of the enemy. Hermann was about to decide whether he should make a stand or retreat again when he realized that his wireless was squawking at him. Picking it up he saw to his horror the second group of enemies approaching him from the flank.
Donjon, Castle Wolfenfels, same time
Baron Heinrich took up the "Binoculars" the Germans had gifted him to have another look. He had spotted the advance of both groups of Chaos Barbarians, the riflemen seemed to have it in hand. For commoners they were holding up well and they had already made a dent in the enemies advance. He had already given orders to deal with the second group.
Looking around he saw the last refugee wagon which labored up the winding path to his castle. The group whipped the horse into a frenzy and pushed themselves mightily to make the cart go faster. The deep ruts the wheels left in the dirt showed the heavy weight of it.
Baron Heinrich was screaming for his armsmen to follow him and was running down the stairs with a speed that belied both his age and bulk before anybody else had seen the problem. Despite all the speed the Baron put into his downwards run the cart had reached the gatehouse before he could interfere. The group of refugees had suddenly multiplied with men hidden inside the cart and they had attacked the guards at the gate without warning.
Some of his guards were already down keeping company with too few attackers while in the background other tried to push the cart further into the gatehouse.
"Clear the gates-kill them all" went out with a wheeze from the running-but that did not keep his armsmen to join the fight. The Baron ran at the first assailant, swinging his hammer in a wide arc. There was few possibilities for finesse and refinement here-fights between hammer and dagger tend to be over fast. He had judged his timing right-his hammer smashed into the enemies chest with brutal power, bashing it in before the dagger-wielding arm was extended enough to reach him. Stepping over the fallen enemy he knocked down another who was engaged with one of his armsmen. The 3rd attacker was more of a challenge-big, muscles and fast he managed to put his dagger nearly into his breast before he could stop his with his hammer`s haft. The dagger then slid downward to severe his finders-just to be stopped by the Barons armored gloves. Using the dagger as a fulcrum Heinrich stepped closer and swung the hammer directly into his enemy`s brow. Dazed and with blood in his eyes he could not prevent the second strike which ended the fight for good.
Turning around the Baron could just helplessly watch the cultists lever the final wheel off the wagon. While it was not fully inside the Gatehouse the specially constructed wagon, made of sturdy oak and filled with granite slabs was now forming a covered tunnel against the murder holes and blocking the Gates while the enemy army was approaching. It was probably not placed exactly where the enemy wanted-his assault had prevented that, but it was a high danger to the defense of his castle until it was cleared. And it was specially constructed to make that difficult.
Exercise ground in front of Castle Wolfenfels
The riflemen line which just before had looked like being able to stop the attack cold seemed mightily thin against a renewed assault from two sides. The KSK officer was about to have his troops "refuse" a flank when the sound of galloping horses made his head turn.
The Reiksguard unit attached to Castle Wolfenfels was not very big and their sight of armored men and horses which charged the enemy with flying colors and lances seemed so antiquated to Ernst-but it was welcome. The Cavalry managed to hit the second group of attackers in its flank and nothing in that group could withstand the impact of horse and men. The Cavalry broke through the enemy cleanly, killing some and scattering the rest. Captain Hemmler pulled his men together ably enough and faced the enemy again. Dropping their now broken lances they closed at a trot pulling new weapons while they did so.
The "Brrrrt" sound of Uzi submachine guns showed that the Reiksguard had finally taken up with the training for modern weapons and the dropping Chaos Warriors showed why this was a good idea. Lieutenant Hermann`s fencing lessons were paying off doubly now-by showing a willingness to learn with them he had gotten the conservative Knights to reply in kind.
With the enemy scattered the retreat to the castles walls was easy-getting through the jammed gate another matter. And now the main body of the Chaos army came into sight. Block upon Block of Chaos Knights, of brawny barbarians and armored warriors marched into view. From Ernst viewpoint is was impossible to see the whole army but that it was massive was obvious. As long as the entry into the castle was open his soldiers had to remain outside to protect those who wanted to clear the fake cart. Here was a high potential for a noble death-something the KSK officer wanted to avoid.
Forming a line to the right and left of the Gatehouse the soldiers prepared for Battle while their comrades inside the castle worked like mad to clear the wagon.
The Lieutenant was about to leave his command for a minute to look after progress-something not lightly done as his this would damage the morale of his troops-when he heard Sergeant Blascoviks: "I got it Lt.-give me 2 more minutes, then step aside when I tell you too."
Doing what every smart Lt. does when his Sergeant tells him something Hermann just acknowledged and went back to the Riflemen. He managed to not to flinch too much when the first salvoes went out from the walls and had his men at the ready. He could already see the first groups of Chaos Knights forming up for a charge when he heard a "fire in the hole" from the castle.
The explosion was not a big affair-but the rests of the cart which were catapulted from the Gatehouse in a convincing manner. The Cavalry went into the castle proper first, followed by the Riflemen. Ernst Hermann was the last to go inside before the Gates closed. Whether his extended middle finger was seen or understood by the approaching cavalry is unknown.
Quarry, Great Forest, same day
"The end of the world is there" "The End is neigh" "Sigmar protect us" "Repent before it is too late". The insistent screaming of the Flagellants was wearing on Heinz Albers patience. Nobody could fault their courage, they had ably protected many of the refugees that had fled the approaching beastmen menace, but their ceaseless praying and insisting about the worlds end was not a willing trait.
Currently Heinz was standing watch on the "B" redoubt and watched the Forest edge. The fact that an invading horde of beastmen was approaching combined with the strange multicolored thunderstorm that was on top of the quarry was already testing the courage of the defenders. Invoking Armageddon, often on tones which seemed to say "get on with it" did not help in any way.
The Screaming of the Flagellants and the strange noises by the storm masked all sounds which might have come from the 500 meters distant Forest-so the sight of the first Beastmen came as a surprise. Kurt had little time to realize that there were Beastmen when more and more of them stepped into the open.
The Captain-cum-Blaster tried to get a rough count for his report to Major Brenneke. "Lets see, about 2 beasties per meter of front, about 800 meters front line-make it 850, times say 8 lines-no that`s 10 now….."
He grabbed for the handle of his field telephone when a huge scream was issuing from the assembled horde. Heinz was used to loud noises: working in a quarry will do that to you. But the primal scream upwards of 10000 throats who all express the urge to kill is still impressive. The Captain was taking it in stride and decided that it was easier to ask for forgiveness than wait for confirmation. Seeking eye contact with the closest Lt. he chopped his hand down sharply.
The sound of 10000 Children of Chaos was impressive-but so was the fire poured on them by two rifle companies and the heavy weapons platoons. The report which the Captain sent out brought the Artillery into the mix.
The fire of well over a hundred G3 Battle rifles, of several machine guns and 4 field pieces ripped through the attackers in a rewarding fashion. Kurt was about to breathe more normal when the next wave emerged from the woods-and it became obvious that it was only the second of many.
Wall of Castle Wolfenfels, Great Forest, same day
Sergeant Blascovics was looking at "his" rifle company and did not like what he saw. Initially elated by their escape from the sudden attack and the damage done by them the armsmen had spent the last two hours watching and ever increasing army assembling outside of their castle.
As the Chaos Army had already learned something about the German weapons range they had so far kept at least half a kilometer away. The assembled troops were still an intimidating sight. A huge mass of human and not so human warriors under many banners accompanied by Chaos Spawns, at least two Ogres and some Greenskins filled much of the open spaces visible from the Castles at this distance the sheer strangeness, the aggressivness and the sheer will to kill all and suder was in evidence. Backed up by the strange lighing coming from the storm it made s picture right out of "The End of the World"
The many banners they presented often showed symbols which seemed to move more than the movement of the banner allowed and looking longer at them made for a queasy stomach and a dizzy head. Dissonant horn signals and lots of shouted commands had prepared the besieged for what had to follow: Blocks of soldiers forming up, ladders and other climbing implements in attendants. The front ranks of the enemy hit their shields rhythmically with their swords adding to the oppressive sight of an assault coming.
The white knuckles of hands which clutched rifles too tightly, the white color of many faces and the wide open eyes of most armsmen showed the same thing: Morale was getting lower by the minute.
Something had to be done obviously, but what?
A sideways look towards the KSK lieutenant and the Baron gave silent agreement and a questing look respectively-time to test if his crazy idea would work.
Going to the middle of the riflemen line he climbed the battlement and turned to face the footmen.
They looked on to him in utter astonishment-this was out of character with the normally highly professional sergeant and drillmaster. They utterly believed in him: when he had given them tasks, even those they thought impossible at first, he showed them how to do it so they could succeed-always. When they made mistakes he spotted them and corrected them-always. He always showed that he was willing to do everything he asked his trainees to do. He had formed the unit of armsmen which normally had to take hindmost tit to all other fighters into an effective fighting unit, giving them confidence in their abilities as soldiers.
And now the man they hated and admired in equal measures for all these things was balancing on the wall with his back to an impeding attack and lifting his rifle towards a strange heaven shouting like a madman-what gave here?
"Boys, this is where we fight them.
This is where we hold them.
This is where THEY die.
Shoulder arms-open fire"
Jumping back to the fighting step past the soldiers firing round after round into the approaching horde the Sergeant took his appointed place again. He did not have to look at his riflemen to see if it had worked-the steady firing showed that it did well enough. When he passed the Lt. He spoke loud enough to be heard over the din "Always wanted to do that"
"Better well stolen than poorly selfmade-well done Hans"
Armed forced Command Center, Geltow nearPotsdam, next morning
Hans-Werner Fritz, General of the Bundeswehr listened to the presentation by his J-2, who was the Intelligence staff head:
The Situation is as follows:
There are 3 big and several small incursions of Chaos Armies into the Empire:
The biggest one is making it`s way from the Chaos Dester to Middenheim, supposedly it is led by one Archaron, supreme Warlord of Chaos armies-it is currently under way. If it is not stopped it will reach Middenheim in about 2 months.
The second biggest is a Siege of the Quarry and Railroad depot in the Great forest, mostly by beastmen. The size of this force is said to exceed 200.000 individuals. Defending is the 21st Kaiserlich-Deutsche Landwehr, a mixed Battalion of Imperials and Germans.
The third one is another siege, this one of Castle Wolfenfels. It is besieged by another smaller Chaos army, size so far unknown. The Castle is on the strategic MSR from Altdorf to Middenheim and is defended by the 8th Group of the KSK and indigenous troops including a rifle Company.
There have been several smaller assaults on smaller German installations and KSK groups. The worst occurred yesterday at Lager Middenheim-the attackers killed most Officers and Pilots.
All of this is compounded by a major magic incident: There is something like a magic storm over the Great Forest which seems to block all air traffic. We lost 2 Recce planes and a drone-as long as it is there we cannot send air support into the affected area. While Lager Middenheim and Castle Wolfenfels are not directly under the Storm they are currently out of range as the Storm forces a too great detour.
The Imperial Academy informs us that the Storm is a Chaos Sorcery they never encountered before but said to be extremely dangerous and to pose a grave danger by itself if left alone.
Emperor Karl-Franz has stated that these are likely the opening stages of a major Chaos invasion-or as he put it a "Storm of Chaos". He has asked for German assistance and as of 05:00 of this morning the Cabinet has agreed that this is a case of assistance according to the Reiksbund treaty.
We have been asked to give a rough proposal on how we can help the Empire quickly so that Parliament can vote this afternoon.
His J4, responsible for the German troops inside the empire stepped forward:
"In order to help the Empire we have to perform 3 different operations:
The first one is to shut down the Warp Storm. We have triangulated it`s origin here. As this area has a small mountain range with suspected cave systems it stands to reason that whatever is causing the "Warp Storm" is holing up there. We will have to dig them out.
The second ops is clearing the way to Middenheim and relieving the units under Siege.
The third one is bringing sufficient troops to Middenheim to prevent the Siege and if possible to push the invading Army back or to destroy it.
High priority is to shut down the Storm as our other tasks will be immeasurably easier when we can employ our air assets again. To achieve this we should use the troops which are already preparing or on their way to the planned exercise "Wacht am Reik". These include the 1st Landwehr with their train, the 183rd Tank Battalion, the Artillery battery 131, the Rocket Artillery Battalion 132 and the Mechanized Infantry Battalions 92 and 401. The imperial armed forces are assembling as well, here the Academy will be most valuable for their magical support.
We are already loading two special trains carrying the warloads of these troops to Altdorf, they will prepare there for operations.
The meeting went on for some time after that but the recommendations to the government were there-now the politicians had to decide-under time pressure. This would either end well-or very badly.
Castle Wolfenfels, Great Forest, same time
Asul Hellebore watched the castle he had to destroy with disgust. Yesterday's skirmish had made two things crystal clear: He had to raze this castle and kill the troops. If he left them alone or under guard with only few troops they would harass his troops once the Siege of Middenheim began. When he would send out detachments for foraging these riflemen and the Cavalry would massacre any warrior who was in a small group-and how could you forage in big groups-it was not efficient.
The other thing that was clear was that it would not be neither a quick nor a cheap victory as he would wish. That the surprise assault failed was no big deal-they failed at least as often as they worked. But the storming of the castle with ladders should have succeeded-there were so few defenders that they should have been buried in bodies. Unfortunately that was not what had happened.
After this German fool had performed whatever arcane ritual he had made on the wall the fire from it had been devastating. He had heard rumors of course, but being at the receiving end of the rifle fire had put things into a totally different perspective.
Not only had these rifles an incredible range, they also fired so rapidly and penetrated whatever armor was presented to them with ease. The Ladder carriers had been under special attention of the marksmen and no ladder had reached the castle walls.
So what other tactic could work? Tunneling under the walls was out of the question, the castle itself was built upon bedrock and they did not have that sort of time. The hill formed a giant motte-and-bailey so siege towers were also out.
This left him with more Ladder assaults-maybe at night, a ram, maybe a petard or the Hellcanon. He had scanned the castle magically already and did not like what he saw. Somebody there had been an eager beaver-the wards he found were not particularly powerful-but there were so many of them. That would make any direct magic assault difficult but had to be done as well.
Well-off to work then-he went back to the group of his underlings who awaited his orders.
Quarry, Great Forest, same time
Heinz Albers was looking at a carpet of dead Beastmen. They covered the ground from the beginning of the Forest to the first line of the barbed wire. In front of the S-wire the dead were so many that it was hard to see any spot of open ground beneath them.
He was shivering with the memories-the beastmen had made at least 4 different assault yesterday before they had given up on it as bad business and retreated for the night. So far things were quieter but the howling and inhuman screams issuing from the forest indicated that this happy state of affairs would not stay that way.
The first of yesterday`s assaults were exercises in the enemy`s ignorance of modern weapons. They had just run to the earthen embankments in huge groups with no formation, no obvious order-nothing. They were just a huge mob of beasts which all had the urge to kill and ran in the same direction. It was a still frightening sight of unfettered aggression and speed-a speed which was strongly reduced when they reached the embankment. It had proven to be just a little bit too steep to be scaled easily and their speed had been reduced to a crawl. Shoulder to shoulder and packed into tightly pressed blocks they had been just grist for the mill of machine guns and battle rifles. Even a blind soldier could not have helped shooting something in that mass.
The second and third assaults had tried to go for different parts of the line-with similar results. The last one had been made by so many Beasts that Major Brennecke had been forced to play one of his best cards-the quad 0.50`s. They were incredibly weapons-one of them was on the same redoubt then his company. When it opened fire shells went out of the 4 breaches like a golden stream and the mount had made a frightful racket. None of this could compare to what happened at the other end. Wherever the quadmounts hit a red mist hid the immediate effects of the fire but after less than a second a new sight presented itself. Where before strong beastmen fought for traction and to close the distance to their hated enemy the full horror of a charnel house was revealed. The ammunition shot by the quadmounts had been developed to defeat steel armor up to an inch thickness-what it did to mere flesh and blood was indescribable. The Groups of beastmen which came under fire by these mounts just disappeared.
The German had read about the First World War and how machine guns were called "The Devils Paintbrush"-he could not agree more.
"Now I can see you are not mad" Heinz flinched like he had touched a live wire. Turning he saw the blonde Giant who had been presented to him as Valten. How such a big man could move so quietly when he wanted was a mystery to the quarryman.
"And a good morning to you too Valten. And why are we not mad?"
"Ah, sorry Captain Albers. Good morning. I meant that I could not figure out why you had built the walls like you did. I mean-why make more wall than you need to? Why build these small extra castles you call redoubt and look like an arrowhead. But then I saw it yesterday-when the Beastmen reached the bottom of the walls-even when they were climbing them-you could still shoot them from two sides, no matter where they were. Very clever. But tell me-this silver wire down there which stopped the Beasts so well-how does it work, is it magic?"
"The way the wall is made-with redoubts-is battle tested. We used a design which was developed when fortresses were still useful in my old world. The inventor, a guy named Vauban, was said never to have lost a fortress he had made-and to have taken all of them he laid siege to.
The wire is not magic-it is called S-Wire. It is simply a strip of razor sharp flat wire with hooks at regular intervals. It is strong enough that you cannot tear it, it is sharp enough to severe limbs when you try and it will hold you fast once you are hooked. This stuff has killed whole armies."
"That is very impressive. It might be that the Flagellants have to wait a little longer for the end…"
"I would appreciate that"
"Yes. Another thing-how can we organize some breakfast for-look out"
Heinz Albers heard the menace before he spotted it-a high discordant sound which did not seem to belong to any sane world and which raised the hair on his neck. An endless scream from nonhuman throats shouting an anger and hunger to the world which was all-consuming. With legs which felt like converted to rubber he turned and saw multicolored …. things swooping in on the defenders. They looked like strange mantas with too many teeth and tails which could fly-and a group of them made a beeline for the quadmount on redoubt "B" and him.
The screeching, the sight of things he could not align with any reality he could imagine and the suddenness of the assault combined to make his and his men`s reactions slow. The Screamers arrived just as the first shots went out. The demons did not go down from the first rounds that hit them and went among Albers company. Ripping apart men with tails, swallowing heads and torsos whole they were on a rampage. While the poor soldiers directly in front of the Screamers were lost Tzeench`s rides came under fire by a lot of assault rifles and smaller machine guns of those platoons which were not directly attacked. The demons did not care a single bit about that, as multiple hits wounded or killed them, if not easily. Heinz was organizing a more coherent firing line when he realized that all of this was just a likely a distraction-the real target must have been the quadmounts.
When he dared to take a look he was pleasantly surprised that "his" quadmount was still there. While its crew rearranged themselves they were defended by a hammer-wielding blonde who`s back was to the machine guns. His hammer did a much better job at killing the demons than the rifle rounds spend by his men and so far he seemed uninjured save for some scratches.
It took the crew of the heavy machine guns another eternity to get themselves sorted, but when it finally opened fire it showed itself more than capable to deal with the screamers. The attack of the demons was over as quickly as it started.
Kurt stepped forward to get a look at the situation when he found that the flying attack had masked an assault of a totally different variant. Again beastmen assaulted the walls-but this time the Chaos Children were much more coordinated. The concentrated their attack on the gap between "B" and "C" redoubts to reduce the fire from other redoubts and advanced in well-ordered groups. The first rank carried trunks. Kurt was no sure why they did that-it slowed them down and did not offer substantial cover. Only when he looked at the barbed wire did he realize that these trunks were probably meant to bridge the wire which had already killed so many beastmen.
In his humble opinion the renewed shooting by his riflemen and his few MG 3 would slow the beastmen-but whether it would stop them before they could bridge the wire and disable one of the most important defenses the Quarry possessed was another matter. Time to see if his little "home project" did work as planned.
Getting between the redoubts meant that the Beastmen were shielded from much of the German fire-but it also compressed them into an ever tightening block. For every beast his men shot there were seemingly two which would take his place-and the wounded was only kept from crawling to his lines as it was trampled underfoot.
The Beastmen bleed, they lost limbs, they fell they screamed in their hate and pain-and still they advanced, meter by bloody meter.
Heinz was oblivious of the last meters-he was too busy to remove the safety of a box he had wired up himself. Lifting his head above the parapet he saw that the wire was almost reached-and then pushed the plunger.
The explosion when it came seemed not like much-more like a string of rapidly fired oversized firecrackers. It did produce smoke and fire-but even not much of that. It also brought the assault to a sudden and total halt, followed by a screaming and a panicked retreat of the few survivors. His "home project" was a success, but the view from the Wall kept Heinz and most others from his company from asking for breakfast.
During the many preparations for the defense Heinz had the eager beavers that were the carpenters make wooden boxes of slightly above cigar box size from the ubiqous boards which was produced in such amounts. He had put some blasting explosive in them and then had his men fill the top with the small flint fragments which the quarry had in abundance. Placing the boxes all along the wall slightly above the wire so that they faced outwards had taken his company an afternoon. Rigging up daisy chains of 50 of them with detcord had been easy for the blaster-the effects of the DIY Claymore mines on the enemy were much harder to stomach. When triggered the flint fragments spread out in flat arcs which were focused on the beaten ground through the shape of the redoubts. The irregular shape of the fragments and their number made for injuries which frightened even the beastmen at the height of their battle frenzy.
Castle Wolfenfels, same time
The Chaos Mage watched the Castle they lay Siege to carefully. He had done so for quite some time now, using both his mundane sight as well as the sights gifted to him by the warp. None of what he saw was especially impressive-both on the mundane front as well as the magical view. The castle was small, the oh-so-dangerous riflemen made themselves invisible and there we no other visible threats. Asul had been right-the magical wards of the castle were impressive. Nothing extremely strong or complicated-but so very many of them which interlocked like shingles on a roof that it made a direct magical attack on the castle moot. But like shingles they would move aside if you went at them in exactly the right way and at exactly the right angle-and he was sure he knew how much force and which angle.
Neutralizing enemy wards was his specialty and had brought him to Asul`s attention. His orders to make a way into the castle could not be denied but at least the sorcerer-cum-general had not skimped with resources.
The ring of fallen Chaos warriors showed the range of the German wonder weapons quite well so he had picked a small depression well outside of that which still allowed him to watch the castle but which should keep him and his doings mostly out of sight.
The knife which he pulled from its gemstone encrusted box was made from the breastbone of a demon and cut both in the mundane world as in the warp-a useful ability for taking sacrifices as it would attract his patron's attention easily. None of this mattered to the peasants which lay hog-tied at the bottom of the depression and watched his approach wide eyed. Such a pitiful sight-but when cut just the right way their souls would be pleasing to the Changer of Ways no matter their poor showing in this world.
He went after the first victim with relish and cut and rended in seemingly random but well-practiced ways which preserved the life of his victim while flavoring his soul with pain and despair beyond the human norm. Lifting the liver of his first sacrifices high into the sun he issued a cry which seemed to belong to a different species-before it was cut short by a bullet which removed every organ in his chest out through the front.
The sudden release of the energy accumulated through the sacrifice burst out in an actinic explosion which killed the still living sacrifices and the mages helpers mercifully quick.
On the Castle`s donjon the German sniper calmly reloaded his M82 rifle. "Got to love this magic indicator"
"Nice shooting Dirk. See if you can keep it up"
"Can do Sarge"
