The Battle of Hagendorf, 1 February 2520 I.C.

The Battle of Hagendorf, 1 February 2520 I.C.

While Yuletide 2519 passed without incident, the January fogs of 2520 on the North Coast were particularly thick and unnerving.  Superstitious fishermen began to tell tales of Kraken from the deep awakened by the Dark Gods, some claimed to see lightning and hear thunder in snow squalls, and when some fishing vessels and merchantmen were found dashed upon the rocks or disappeared altogether terror and fear again gripped the small Nordland coastal communities.   Lord Tykel von Hargelfels’s Northern Fleet plied the fogbound waters in those early winter months.  While there were sightings of both Nurgle Plagueships and Norse raiders they always disappeared into the fog and avoided battle.  von Hargelfel’s Pegasus Squadrons were often grounded by the thick fog, and when they could fly found nothing. 

Elector Count Theoderic Gausser ordered local town and city militias to be increased, trained, and properly led, and even mobilized a number of state regiments to patrol the roads.  A sure harbinger of troubled times ahead manifested itself in the last months of 2519 when significant numbers of Flagellants began making their way to the North Coast.  As Gausser’s good friend and councilor Ludwig von Gallas of Zweedorf wrote to him at Yuletide 2519, “Flagellants congregating are a sure sign of famine, war, and doom.”  

It seemed as if von Gallas spoke with prophecy, for at the end of the month a small Nurgle raiding 
party slipped past von Hargelfels’s Northern Fleet in the thick winter fog and made landfall near the village of Hargendorf.  The choice of landing was not random for Hargendorf was the birthplace of Aarchon the so-called “Everchosen.”  

The Village of Hagendorf was a little fishing village is on the North Coast and was the birthplace of Aarchon the so-called “Everchosen” whose mother had bee ravished by a Norse Marauder.  Before the Storm of Chaos the village contained fewer than 250 souls.  Aachon's incursions swelled the population to nearly 400 with an influx of refugees.  Baron Luther von Hargendorf had worked to spread these refugees who chose to stay in Nordland among is domains.  The abandoned village of Schlaghugel was repopulated with approximately 300 refugees from Ostland and Kislev, and the Elector Count fortified the stone span at Bridgenorth.  Both Hargendorf and Gausser intended Bridgenorth to be a bastion against any Norscican marauders sailing up the River Demst and the newly raised Demst River Patrol and the Nordland Rangers were based at Bridgenorth.  The Baron and the Count decided that the settlement of Schlaghugel would serve as a base of operations for the western parts of the county.  A castle was hastily built there and Gausser's Justiciar of the North, Finari, was stationed there with a strong force of troops. All seemed well as the decade of the 2510s moved forward in terms of the security of the coastal regions - especially in the western part of the county and along the River Demst.  Sadly, Baron Hargendorf fell from his horse whilst hunting boar in the forest of Laureleorn in 2018 and left only a four year old boy, Georg to succeed him. 

Lord Mundfilth received a vision from Father Nurgle that in this small village were relics of the fallen “Everchosen.”  These had been buried with his mother on her death in 2487.  They were children's toys and a baby rattle inscribed with sigils of evil and bore the favor of the Dark Gods.  Lord Mundfilth wished these gathered and destroyed as the Dark Gods commanded all their followers to do with relics of the "Everchosen." So it was that to this village Lord Mundfilth entrusted his champion Gorloth to take the village and ransack it to find the relics. He did not anticipate an Imperial force led by Edouard von Marburg, Chief Forester of the North, barred his way with a substantial force of men.

The townsfolk see the armies assemble on the plain outside the town.
 
 Brave Halberdiers and Greatswords stand against the enemy.



The forces of Nurgle were many and vile.
 
Edouard's army was strong and stalwart, but would prove no match for the Nurgle host on this day.

 

 Edouard's position was a strong one, but he soon became too anxious to get to grips with the forces of Nurgle.......

Edouard was impetuous and rushed to get to grips with the Nurgle foe.

The vile legions of Nurgle awaited the impetuous Master Forester......

The Warriors of Chaos with the Mark of Nurgle charged the Imperial Greatswordsmen and slaughtered them.

On the Imperial left the Knights Panther faced off against a group of Hounds and Marauder Horse.  The Knights easily disposed of both these vile units, but were taken completely out of the battle.

The Estalian Handgunners with Edouard leading them were caught by the Spawn......

The Halberdiers were routed by a unit of Marauders (horrid die rolling here)......

The Nordland Spearmen tried to hold the hill with a Great Cannon and Wisenmund the Grey.

But the vile forces of Nurgle slaughtered the Great Cannon Crew and Wisenmund the Grey fell victim to the Spawn!!

The Spawn and the Marauders then turned on the brave Nordlanders and butchered them like the sheep.

Edouard had succeeded in rallying his Estalian mercenaries and they made a brave last stand against the combined might of Nurglings and Marauders before they were overcome and slain.

The disaster at Hagendorf came as a great blow to Count Theodoric.  Edouard von Marburg, Master Forester of the North, was not among the survivors and his body was never recovered.  Some of the Estalians who were with him at the last rearguard and survived said that he fought to the end, till his sword was broken and his shield shivered before he was overcome by a Marauder's axe, while others say they last saw him being overwhelmed by a horde of Nurglings.  In ether event, his death was a setback to the Imperial cause and Theodoric issued orders across his realm to put the entire county on a war footing.  He also send Pegasus riders winging south to Altdorf to inform the Emperor that a new incursion of Nurgle devotees had descended on the North Coast and that he would require Imperial aid.  While all of these things were in motion news came of another battle near the coast.