Bannihal’s Report (Challenge IV Prelude, Chapter 13)

[SkaForHire]

Bannihal’s Report (Challenge IV Prelude, Chapter 13)

Previous Prelude chapters:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Bannihal’s Report

Leovetus had left the council with Dugal’s assurance that at least Eastgate would support his side of the order. The MacLeans had had many non-human allies over the years, and he felt odd about Lord Kral ever since he had met him. Leovetus left the chamber with a written report by Bannihal, and the council had adjourned formalities to go over the papers.

The first was a report about a sabotage mission that the Leander resistance had pulled off.

(Thanks to Kai for this build!)

Shipwrecked! by gid617, on Flickr

A 12^th Legion ship, apparently the 12^th Legion, the Sea Serpents, were the naval force of Xersia, had left a city called Catarlacus headed for Mpya Stedor with a company of Thousand Sons. According to Bannihal, their mission was to unload near the city, take plain clothes, and infiltrate the city. Once inside, determine if DaMaximus was willing to champion the Ulandian cause for the Rejoining to Kaliphlin. If not, they were to take down the Golden Windows factory to hurt the city’s economy.

Damaximus was not happy when this was read out loud, but Erudhalion reminded him that they should stay as objective as possible here, as they did not know if Bannihal was telling the truth, or even if he was a Desert King agent. Phlici seemed to think that the latter must be the case.

The ship left Ulandus, but had one Leander rebel stowaway in the cargo hold. As it neared the Lesser Spice Isles, the agent began drilling two large holes in the hold. This caused the vessel to take on water, and in an attempt to make land, the ship was crashed upon a rocky reef in front of the Isle of Krag (their name for the island, Dugal had no idea which Lesser Spice Island it was.) The Leander got to shore where he hid himself to watch what unfolded next.

Shipwrecked! by gid617, on Flickr

The Isle of Krag is apparently inhabited by an isolationist tribe, for when they saw the boat crashed upon the reef of their island, they went on the warpath. Storming the beach in full war paint, the men of the island shot arrow after arrow into each 12^th Legionnaire trying to make the beach. Many of the soldiers were lost in the wreck, and all of their supplies lay on the reef or at the bottom of the sea. Eventually a few survivors made it to the rocky shore of the island where they attempted a last assault on the beach.

Shipwrecked! by gid617, on Flickr

In the end, the islanders were too strong for the depleted crew.

Shipwrecked! by gid617, on Flickr

As the islanders recovered much of the 12^th Legion’s goods, the last of the bodies floated back out to sea.

Shipwrecked! by gid617, on Flickr

At nightfall, the Leander agent snuck back onto the reef and took the ship’s boat back to Ulandus.

“Well they are brake, no matter who they really side with, I will give them that. “ Dugal said.

“If it is true” Said Siedna

“Agreed.” Dugal said.

Ageven put down the scroll, “If this is true, these Leander may be actually working for the Desert King. If that is true, we may be playing into his hands by supporting the rebellion.”

“I think it is best that we stay neutral, and post an army in Western Kaliphlin as a peace keeping force.” Gideon said. “We have two distinct problems, the Desert King in the North, who has yet to make his intentions clear, and the Ulandians in the South who have stated that they are enemies of the Desert King.”

“Why would we need any army? Let them fight it out, and if we have to, we will destroy the winner.” Lord Bain said, he had entered into the council chambers after the Leanders had left. Isabella had come back too.

“Lord Bain, your lands may sit cozy on the other side of Kaliphlin, but if those two armies want to fight each other, they are going to march through what little fertile land between Ulandus and Sultan’s Gate. They are going to have to eat, they are going to cause trouble, and likely they will grab any fortified town they can along the way to hold an advantage over the other. Once they get dug in, they will be impossible to get out. We need to set up a road block.” Said Ageven . “Auner has already been shaken hard by the Great Disturbance. We can’t afford any more trouble.”

“We could always take Lord DaMaximus’ army to his home city, that would surely stop the two forces.” Bain chimed in. Here we go again… thought Dugal.

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

There was one other piece of intelligence from Bannihal that interested Dugal – it was an overview of the Legions of Xersia and what their current missions were. It also described their uniforms. He learned that even though there was a uniformed color for each legion, the armor and appearance of soldiers within the legion varied from company to company, and even squad to squad.

Untitled-4 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Untitled-5 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Edited February 24, 2015 by SkaForHire

[Tomsche]

Is somebody breeding their own Space Marine legions to take over the world of Historica?

Very lovely story and builds yet again

[SkaForHire]

I have no idea what you are talking about.... Let's just say there are a lot of homages being paid here in the story.

[robuko]

Superb posing and presentation Kai. We have no quarrel with either side or faction, and we welcome the enlargement of our economy and trade routes.

[Mike S]

Nice build and pics Kai! Awesome rockwork and great head choices for the figs!

[LittleJohn]

Excellent work Kai! I really like the dirt layering and path

[Spader]

great story, and builds!

[Maxim I]

Bannihal....., I suddenly realise it comes from Hannibal... Nice name

--------------------------------------

In character:

After hearing the report, Lord Damaximus went to one of the many cosy inns in Petraea. There Lord Max Samu of Everlast was waiting to hear what happened in the High Council. After Damaximus told the report of Bannihal to Samu, the following discussion started:

DM: So what do you think, is he telling the truth?

Samu: I am not sure... Every foreigner who talks to a Historican discovers sooner or later the military power of Stedor. And when he listens carefully, he will know that you are known to be very agressive in Kaliphlin Defense matters. So if he is really teaming up with the Desert King, he choosed well to say "Stedor" and not "Ras-El-Akhen" for example.

DM: Fact is we haven't seen any Ulandian in Stedor so far... It would make sense that their ship has been sabotaged. The only thing in the story that bothers me is that if you want to go from Ulandus to Stedor, you don't have to pass by the Spice Islands... That makes no sense...

Samu: True. So you will let this pass?

DM: Stedor will be as neutral as always at this moment. Are the troops of Everlast ready for this one?

Samu (smiles): Most of our troops are still fighting against the Spire in Nocturnus. But I got a better plan. Thanks to the Ulandians who are fighting against everyone not loyal to Kaliphlin, many tribes and clans fled in the Rakath Mountains. They abandonned their homes. Most of them are however loyal to Everlast (muhahaha) but we can't fight against Ulandian troops in Kaliphlin to help them without provoking a war. So my idea is to put those clans and tribes on ships and send them to the Leander under command of Yarraj and his Yars. They can fight together with the Leander against the Ulandians.

DM: and nobody will ever know Everlast or Stedor sent them... Perfect. And in the case the Leander are loyal to the Desert King and he wants to attack us, we got an army inside their army to sabotage them!

[Mike S]

Bannihal....., I suddenly realise it comes from Hannibal... Nice name

Nice catch!

The only thing in the story that bothers me is that if you want to go from Ulandus to Stedor, you don't have to pass by the Spice Islands... That makes no sense...

You are absolutely correct! Perhaps the Leander agent is not familiar with geography outside of Ulandis and mistook the islands east of Serpent's Crawl as the Spice Islands???

[Jakorin Swiftsword]

Nice rockwork! And the water is nice as well!

[Lord Vladivus]

Great build Kai!

[SkaForHire]

Nice catch!

You are absolutely correct! Perhaps the Leander agent is not familiar with geography outside of Ulandis and mistook the islands east of Serpent's Crawl as the Spice Islands???

Hence lesser spice islands :) Those islands didn't have a name on the map, I gave them one, but we can say that that is what the Ulandians call them, and we might have another official Kaliphlin name?

[Mike S]

Hence lesser spice islands :) Those islands didn't have a name on the map, I gave them one, but we can say that that is what the Ulandians call them, and we might have another official Kaliphlin name?

I see! Didn't realize you were naming those islands. Considering that the islands are located within the void tide, it is probable that mainland Kaliphlinians call them the Void Islands or something along those lines.

[Blufiji]

Another great chapter.

[SkaForHire]

I should make a note that the first legion is actually called the Thousand Suns... the 40k joke may have went too far when I quickly made that chart late at night. I plan on replacing the chart with something prettier when I make the "Choose your side" thread. We are almost there everyone, 5 more days until the challenge starts! I think only 3 more chapters to go, unless I get a few more builds in from some of the estranged builders.

[Garmadon]

Excellent build Kai, that water technique looks fantastic here! Superb wreckage, fig posing, and rock-work as well!

Great continuation of the story, it's hard to tell which side (Desert King or the Ulanders) is worse better!

[Kai NRG]

Thanks to everyone who commented on my build!

[Gideon]

Very nice build and great choice of photo angles

A nitpick on the last photo is however that I think the focus probably should have been on the minifig in the center?

Edited February 25, 2015 by Gideon

[NiceMarmot]

Wow, I go away skiing for ten days, and all hell breaks loose! Ska, the buildup for this challenge is fantastic. Doing the maps and all, I knew some of it, but had no idea there was so much planned out. This is really great. Can't wait for the big finale!

Kai, this is a really nice build, with a lot going on. Great rockwork. I love the fig positioning, especially the ones that are up to their waists in the water. And great choice of faces and expressions!

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Nice MOC with the water, the rocks and all.

So, do we get the task to build all of these legions?

Bannihal .... I have a tendency to accept names as they are, so this almost escaped me.

[SkaForHire]

Bannihal .... I have a tendency to accept names as they are, so this almost escaped me.

Actually, the starter task for those who side with Ulandus is to build the 13th legion. So yes, if you join that side you do! The other two sides have different starter tasks. These starter task winners will decide who gets to choose the next location of battle in the Category C challenge -- I will be posting more on that today so people can understand the rules. Category A and B will be similar to previous challenges, but C will be a dynamic war challenge with many mini challenges in the next three months.

[Bregir]

Actually, the starter task for those who side with Ulandus is to build the 13th legion. So yes, if you join that side you do! The other two sides have different starter tasks. These starter task winners will decide who gets to choose the next location of battle in the Category C challenge -- I will be posting more on that today so people can understand the rules. Category A and B will be similar to previous challenges, but C will be a dynamic war challenge with many mini challenges in the next three months.

That sounds... FANTABULOUS!

[soccerkid6]

Great landscape, Kai, one of your best The rockwork looks good, and I like the path

[MassEditor]

Lovely rocks and photography, and a very well put together scene. The flotsam/debris/bodies in the water really helps portray the savagery of this event.

Still really enjoying where this story is going, so many sides and developments... this will certainly make for some fun building!

[Kai NRG]

Very nice build and great choice of photo angles

A nitpick on the last photo is however that I think the focus probably should have been on the minifig in the center?

My camera does what it wants when it comes to focusing... haha. I need to find a way to control that better! Thanks!

...Kai, this is a really nice build, with a lot going on. Great rockwork. I love the fig positioning, especially the ones that are up to their waists in the water. And great choice of faces and expressions!

Thanks NM! I pride myself on my posing...

Thanks also to Captain Braunsfeld, SK and ME for your comments!