Age of Sigmar Campaign: Battle For Crythe
The Battle for Crythe
For hundreds of years, the floating city of Crythe has held against the forces of Chaos, even after Sigmar fled the Mortal Realms and sealed himself within Azyr, the city stood resolute in the face of the onslaught of Chaos. It was hard to assault a city hovering high above a sea of burning souls, combined with hardy Duradin working magical forces producing some of the best weaponry in all the Mortal Realms, said to be second only to the mighty works of Six Smiths high in the Sigmarabulum. Eventually though, the city would fall, it was only a matter of time. The inevitable pressures of centuries of war led the Wizards of Crythe to strike a bargain with an entity they thought to be from the Realm of the Heavens but they were betrayed, and a great portal was opened that allowed the forces of Chaos to spread out and devour the city, street by street.
Only tiny hold outs, small pockets of resistance, marked the presence of the free people of the Realms, bastions held off the forces of Chaos until the day when the war changed, when the Lightning came and the Age of Sigmar began.
The campaign is set in the ruins of the Free City of Cyrthe, in the Realm of Fire, Crythe is a vast floating city, built on a chunk of bedrock that hangs high above the Sea of Burning Souls. During the Age of Myth, the city was built to take advantage of the Flamespire, an eruption of incalculable magical energy from the Sea of Burning Souls that reached up into the depths of the rock, the Font of the Flamespire was created to collect and channel that energy, used to power the magical industry of Crythe.
The city grew quickly, the Flamespire’s power attracting great smiths and wizards of the Age from all over the Realsm and soon many great arcane wonders were housed on the floating island city. Huge cranes hung over the edge to lift up the Granite Galleons, trade ships built to resist the inferno of the Sea of Burning Souls and bring much needed supplies to the city in exchange for wonderous magic items. Realmgates were erected, and, in the centre of the city, where the Font of the Flamespire burned hottest, was built the Grand Bridge, a massive Realmgate able to accommodate entire armies and linked to similar structures in each of the other Realms.
Because of these wonders, it is a great prize for any army hoping to concur the Mortal Realms, which is why the forces of Chaos were so keen to see it taken and why the forces of Order are now desperate to take it back.
Now, fighting rings across the desolate ruins of the city, clashing swords and axes and flaming conjurations and the cries of the dying echo. The Orruks and Ogors didn’t take long to join in the war, which isn’t surprising, anywhere that fighting is good and the loot plentiful is bound to see the forces of Destruction show up. The Lord of Death, however, was not expected.
Deep in the bowels of the city, one of the Fyreforges was hidden well, where most are huge, burning hot magical engines, powered by the very essence of fire, this one is cold. A deathly chill haunts the vast chamber under the streets of Crythe, the Frozen Forge was used only once, to create an artefact channelling power from the Realm of Shyish. At the moment of its creation, it is said to have sucked in all heat, all light, all life, from around it. Rumour has it that the artefact is still there, finished and waiting on the Frozen Forge for someone to claim its power for themselves.
Battles in the City of Crythe
The City of Crythe was long home to many accomplished Wizards and Sorcerers. Vast vaults of esoteric knowledge and arcane lore made the city a busy hub for students of magic and artisans of great and powerful items flocked to the city. The Font of the Flamespire, which collects the energy from a great shaft of magical power that shoots up from the Sea of Burning Souls, where it is funnelled into the Fyreforges, was said to be one of the best sources of energy to use in the forging of magical artefacts in all the Mortal Realms. The ruins of the city still house any of the remaining Fyreforges and other great magical works, many artefacts and arcane creations are there for the taking.
All battles in this campaign take part in the city of Crythe and follow the rules set out below.
Scenery
The city of Crythe is vast, it was not all close urban sprawl, although a lot of it was, there were huge parks and areas on the floating island where the city had not yet spread in full. After centuries of war, vast wastelands dot the city where magical explosions have left little standing, so youot battle fields can look however you want them to. The city does seem to throb with weight of hundreds of years of war and death so close to a seething sea of souls, as well as the background thrum of magical energy given off by the now unattended Font of the Flamespire which leaks in to the rock of the city. All scenery pieces in Crythe use the rule below instead of rolling on the table in the Age of Sigmar rules.
Magical Burden: The effects of the millennia of magical war has leeched into everything. While within 3” of this scenery piece, a unit takes 1 away from its Bravery characteristic. The unit also gains a 6+ save against any Mortal Wounds it suffers, if it can already save against Mortal Wounds, the saving throw required to ignore a Mortal Wound is reduced by 1.
Triumph Table
Winning a Major Triumph in a game set in the city of Cythe allows you to roll on the Triumph Table below:
1 – Tome of The Screaming Skull: A Hero or Priest can be given this item, they can then attempt to cast the spell The Screaming Skull in the Hero Phase once per game as if they were a wizard.
2 – Ring of Fyrecloak: A Hero may put on this magic ring and be swathed in a swirling vortex of magical fire, while wearing this ring any unit that has a model within 1” of the Hero takes a mortal wound at the end of the Combat Phase.
3 – Talisman of Shifting Thoughts: A Hero or Priest given this item, it can project conflicting thoughts into the mind of anyone close trying to cast a spell. The wearer may attempt to unbind a spell as if they were a wizard when within 18” of an enemy wizard casting a spell.
4 – Radiant Mantle: You may pick a Hero to don this brightly glowing mantle, a shining light plays about their head, encouraging those nearby to great deeds. In the Hero Phase, you can select one unit within 12” of the Hero, add +1 to that Unit’s Bravery characteristic until the end of the Turn.
5-Runestone of Sure Striking: A Hero, Priest or Wizard can be given this Runestone, by pressing it to one of their weapons, they will magically imbue the weapon with the Rune of Sure Strikes, add +1 to the To Hit characteristic of one weapon the model is armed with. The Rune fades at the end of the next battle and can no longer be used.
6-Scroll of Levitation: One Hero, Priest or Wizard can be given this scroll, contained within its arcane words is bound a spell of Levitation. This item can be used in the Hero Phase, the model immediately gains Flying for the following Movement Phase. After the Movement phase, the spell dissipates and the scroll turns to dust and can’t be used again.
New Spell: All Wizards fighting in the City of Crythe add the Spell “The Screaming Skull” to their warscroll.
The Screaming Skull: The wizard summons one of the burning souls from below, manifesting as a skull wreathed in fire and screeching with a mind shattering howl, the wizard lobs the skull into the air from where it seeks out an enemy. The Screaming Skull has a casting value of 8. If successfully cast, choose an enemy unit within 18” of the caster, the unit need not be visible to the caster as the skull flies up high into the air before crashing down, the unit picked suffers D3 mortal wounds and in has its Bravery characteristic reduced by -1 until the end of the Turn.
- - - Updated - - -
Here's the first part of the background document for a campaign I'm running for my gaming group, each Faction will move up from their corner of the city as they win battles, there is a Battleplan on the way that represents a fight over one of the Fyreforges which will reward the winner with ever more impressive magic items.
The idea is to make a campaign where Heroes are more important, lots of things to lower Bravery to make Battleshock deadly and really impressive extra abilities for Heroes through the Triumph table without adding a full on advancement system.
