The Order of the Raven and Altdorf Raven Guard

This is dome fluff for my Nemesis Crown campaign army. Since I am fairly ignorant with regards to the official background to Altdorf and surrounding area, there may be some things here that are technically not possible. But I don't care.

Oh, and before any Hobblings read this, I never claimed to have an ounce of originality.



The Order of the Raven and Altdorf Raven Guard

The Order of the Raven, a knightly order based near Altdorf, is led by General Marcus Corvinus. His family have ruled land near to the city for generations.

Family legend tells the tale of Stefan Corvinus, who was the second son of the local landowner. With his elder brother as heir to the lands, nothing more was expected of him than to attend court and marry an Empire noble woman. Dissatisfied with this future and wanting something more exciting, he decided to run away and become an adventurer. Stefan was only marginally successful at this, joining various groups, mercenary bands and brigands over the next few years. Finally, whilst wandering through the World’s Edge Mountains dodging tribes of Goblins, he came upon a wounded raven being tormented by a Night Goblin.

Stefan killed the Goblin, and was surprised when the Raven spoke to him. It transpired that the Raven was in fact a powerful Wood Elf wizard, who had been turned into a Raven by a night Goblin Shaman the previous day. He told Stefan that he would be greatly rewarded for killing the Shaman and thus breaking the spell. Stefan agreed, and went in search of the Shaman.

Whether luckier than the Wood Elf, or blessed by Sigmar himself perhaps, Stefan did not suffer the same fate and was able to kill the shaman. True to his word, the Elf regained his normal shape, and as promised rewarded Stefan by enchanting his weapons and armour.

This was a turning point for Stefan. He decided that he would return home to his family, and raise an Order of knights in honour of the Raven shape the Elf had been turned to. With them, he would fight the evil creatures of the world.

The gift from the Wood Elf was handsome indeed. Stefan’s armour and weapons were all magically improved.

These include the Raven Armour, the Corax Sword and the Raven Arrows are fletched with raven feathers, and this gives the archer the same effect as if he held the Bow of Something. Stefan returned home, and started the Order of the Raven.

Over the following years, Stefan and his Raven Knights became famous for their support to the Empire army in times of need, as well as embarking on raids on the nearby tribes of Orks and Goblins. The jet-black armour became a familiar sight on battlefields and strike fear into Goblins in particular.

After Stefan ’s death, and with no direct heir, his brother’s second son took over as Preceptor of the Order. Thus began a tradition that continues to this day – the eldest son takes over the running of the family’s lands, and the second son leads the Knights. The second son dedicates himself to the Order.

In addition to the Order, the Corvinus family supports several regiments of foot troops to support the Knights in battle, and to join with Altdorf troops in time of need. Whilst maintaining the blue and red colours of nearby Altdorf for their uniforms, the troops often add black feathers to identify themselves as members of the Raven Guard, as the Corvinus regiments are known.

Today, Marcus Corvinus leads the Order of the Raven with Ulrik von Lederhosen as second in command. Ulrik fought alongside Marcus’ uncle when he was Preceptor, and the grizzled veteran trained the young Marcus from an early age. Ulrik usually carries the regiments Battle Standard, fighting on foot with units of spearmen instead of from horseback. He is trusted enough to act as leader of the regiment should Marcus be engaged elsewhere.

The Raven Guard are frequently supported by wizards from the Altdorf College of Magic, and by artillery from Nuln. The Order maintains links with the Wood elf tribe that Stefan helped, and will occasionally be joined by a unit of rangers in battle. If required to send troops to aid Altdorf against Wood Elves, the Order itself is permitted to decline to fight, however other troops are not exempt from supporting. No knight from the Order is permitted to raise a weapon to a Wood Elf – an agreement that is reciprocated by the elves.



Game rule notes:

Note that all the rules below confer no benefits to the army, bit do limit certain options over and above the Empire army book. They are merely to add a degree of uniqueness to the force!

Magic Items: the Raven Armour etc is taken in place of Dawn Armour – it would not be possible to field both at the same time, in the same way that two identical items cannot be taken. Similarly, the Corax Sword replaces the Sword of Justice and the Raven Arrows replace the Bow or Something or Other.

Preceptors: Units of knightly orders may not take a Preceptor as Marcus holds this position.

Marcus Corvinus: If fielded, Marcus will always be the army general. In addition, he must wear the Raven Armour and wield the Corax sword; thus no other characters will be able to take the equivalent items. He will always fight either on a barded warhorse, or his Griffon. Marcus will always join a unit of Knights if available, although if fighting with his Griffon this will not apply.

Ulrik von Lederhosen: If Marcus is fielded, then Ulrik, if taken, must be the Battle Standard Bearer.

Wood Elves: The fortune of the family and the Order itself derive from the favours of the Wood Elf mage; however occasionally the Empire is in conflict with this race and requires troops to be supplied. The Emperor does, however, respect the honour of the Order and their history and so whilst troops are still supplied in times of need they are not required to include knights from the Order itself.

When fighting Wood Elves, the Raven Guard may not include Marcus as General (or any other General of the Empire), Ulrik von Lederhosen or any units of Knightly Orders. All other troops, including Outriders and pistoliers, may be selected as normal. Other Lords choices may be taken as normal.

Wood Elf Rangers: Occasionally, Wood elf rangers support the Raven Guard. In the game, Wood Elf models may be used as foresters i.e. same points, stats and rules as per the Empire army list – it is only the models used that changes. The army will, of course, not include these if fighting against Wood Elves.

A Fistful of Honey

At last, I finally finished painting these fellows.

The Good...





The Bad...





And the Cuddly...

A call to arms - victory at last!

Finally, a significant victory for the Raven Guard!

Facing the Dwarves who had defeated me so soundly before, the Altdorf Raven Guard were eager to avenge their comrades.

Knights from the Raven Order, led my Marcus Corvinus himself, led the charge on the left flank into a unit of rangers. These were butchered to a man (well, dwarf) as they turned to flee after seeing their champion hacked to pieces by Marcus. In the centre, the solid line of foot troops advanced whilst on the right the Outriders advanced to take up position opposite one of the many bolt throwers, and the Empire artillery climbed the hill in front of them for a better field of fire.

As the centre advanced, one of the Hand gunner detachments was wiped out after almost every ranged weapon took aim at them. Embarrassingly, the spearmen unit panicked and ran, despite the best efforts of Ulrik von Lederhosen, bearer of the Battle Standard. The swordsmen unit held firm, however. The spearmen were to rally immediately in the following turn. The organ gun, however, decided to avenge the Rangers. The knights disappeared in a cloud of fire, smoke and debris. After a pause, Marcus charged through, unscathed but angered by the loss of the entire unit from around him.

The tone was set for the remainder of the game. The mounted troops attacked and destroyed one group of crewmen after another, whilst the foot troops engaged the Dwarf crossbow men and warriors.

Finally, as night drew in the remaining two units of dwarves withdrew from the field, leaving the Empire troops victorious.

Battle honours are awarded to:

- the crew of the 'borrowed' Dwarven bolt thrower, who finally managed to hit a target on turn five. This was, I believe, the first time the crew had hit anything in three games. They even managed to kill four spearmen, and narrowly missed Ulrik!

- the empire Volley Gun, which wiped out most of the Dwarven warriors unit with a final volley of 18 shots, from which nine kills resulted. The command squad that was left decided they would record the Grudge and withdrew.

- the crew of the bolt thrower that withstood the Outriders attacks for three rounds before being killed. The Outriders returned to the weapon after the battle, and buried the Dwarves with full honours alongside the bolt thrower the had been so protective of.