Holy Sigmarite Empire threats continue

The Dark Elves of Khaldeith returned to plague the Holy Sigmarite in 503, only a year after their defeat by House Aureus. After a successful slave raid against the ogre kingdoms, the Elves returned to the HSE, making small attacks along the coast. the Emperess Matilda dispatched small defensive forces to defend important locations, but wherever battle was joined against the raiders the men of the Empire came off worse. Faulty gunpowder and green recruits were blamed, but for many the problem lay in mismanaging of the situation by the ruling class of House Alptraum.

As bad as the elven raids were, a more serious threat was massing elsewhere, the first signs of which arrived in 506 when a daemonic pack materialised in the lands round Mallendorf and attacked an isolated outpost held by House Drazkharov, slaughtering the defenders. Then early next year an army of the Domovoi was seen marching towards the HSE. The Kaalroen Empire was on the attack once more.

Thankfully though they may have suffered defeats in smaller raids, the Drazkharovs had proved themselves hard to beat in major engagements. This year was no different, and the chaos force was met just south of the Mallend Gap. Though the conveniently overlooked dark magics used by the Drazkharovs proved fickle the powerful infantry held fast against the Domovoi and at the height of the battle Igor Drazkharov slew the Chaos commander. The Domovoi were routed, though some remnants of the army were later found wandering the borders of the HSE - and were blamed for a massacre of a Drazkharov scouting party later that year.

In 508 the Dark Elves returned, but this time the HSE believed themselves ready. A rebuilt fleet from Gallamory was patrolling the Galamor bay and intercepted the raiding ships from Khaldeith, cleverly forcing the elves to sail into the wind thereby slowing their advance. However the ambush quickly turned round, as the cannons of the Imperials were inaccurate and their tactics once close up were sloppy. The powerful elven magic turned the battle into one of the worst defeats ever suffered by the Gallamory fleet. In the wake of this embarrassment the Empress declared the "official" HSE navy needed to be reformed, rather than relying on incompetent privateers.