The elector count of Ostland, Valmir von Raukov had long awaited this moment. Well actually since the end of the Storm of Chaos, when the hordes of chaos torched his province and half the empire as well as Kislev. Not long after the war he asked for military support from the emperor, so that the could vanquish the remaining raiders with the help of the imperial troops. His other aim was to give support to the Tzarina, to free her country from the northmen. According to news arriving from the north, Norse marauders had gained strength already and were endangering Erengrad.

Now finally Karl Franz had decided to gather the old allies and try to push forwards, to secure the borderland. The troops were already arriving to Wolfenburg. Large numbers of imperial state troops, scores of Bretonnian knights, dwarf warmachines, and giant eagles were arriving. Although it was less then expected, but hopefully it would be enough for the counteroffensive.

A few days after the troops had gathered, they left towards their destination in the north. Their journey lead them to the last standing keep of Bohsenfels. This keep in the northeastern part of the Empire was the only keep to withstand the last chaos invasion. But they did not enter the fort, for as the story had it, Melekh the touched of Tzeentch cursed the tower for withstanding their assaults for so long, and since then anyone entering the keep would have to endure the wrath of Tzeentch. There were numerous horrible rumors circulating the neighboring lands about the terrible deaths of the soldiers stationed there. One of the most far fetched was that a soldier in charge of supplies, mistook an officer for a turkey and chopped his head off with a meat cleaver. The local peasants are pretty gullible, thought the elector count, and quickly dismissed these vacuous stories.

Von Raukov deemed it quite probable, that the Tzarina had a significant role in persuading the emperor to send troops to the north, which by no means belonged to pulling force of the imperial economy. Especially after the war life was very miserable in these parts. Valmir speculated that the emperor was worried that he would get no further military support from the ruler of Kislev unless he acted now. Already during the great war there was some clash of views between the two rulers, about who should help who. Karl Franz sent war material, food and money until the start of the war, and then expected the troops of the Tzarina, who did not come, because they were busy protecting their own territory. Diplomacy must have been invented by a god of chaos, thought von Raukov. But this time maybe he would gain something from the friction.

They reached the border between the Empire and Kislev unchecked. Most probably not one beastman dared stand in their way. But Valmir von Raukov started having doubts about their chances in this campaign. The first blow was that a lizardman assumed command of the army, and presented some kind of credentials from the emperor. So far von Raukov had not seen a creature of the like, but that an oversized frog would present a letter of commission with an imperial seal, which stated that he would assume command of the army, was beyond all reason. The humiliation! Naturally he should have lead the army to war with the absence of the emperor!

The second cautionary sign was the skill of the troops. The ground his troops before the war would have covered in just over a day, took them more than two. Their equipment and moral was also lacking. But than again how would they have well trained troops, since most of them perished in the war. Yes, well maybe this campaign was a bit too soon, but there was no turning back anymore.

The third ill sign was the terrible weather, which meant most of their gunpowder was soaked, and their warmachines were stuck in the mud. By the time they would catch up, they might already be dead.

The bad news just had no end, since the barbarian raids were reported to be much stronger than anticipated, and were of great threat. And despite the hopes of Valmir the kislevites had not regained all their territory from northmen and they would have to start the war where Archeon had fought his first great battles in the heart of Kislev. If this was bad or very bad the count could not decide but he had a feeling that, his only hope was that Ulrich would give them victory.

The audience with the Tzarina went rather well and for some strange reason the queen accepted the leadership of the giant frog without much protest, and committed some of her troops to their assistance. Though Valmir had hoped that the Tzarina would not have the lizardmen lead the forces, Valmir felt that this would seriously endanger the success of the campaign, and saw very little chance that the queen would trust the forces to him instead of a kislevite, and would have her will against all the imperial officers.

The "dispensable" kislevite troops were of course fewer than expected, but this did not surprise Valmir anymore. The first villages where they could encounter chaos marauders were within a one or two day march. Well the recruits had to be blooded somewhere, the count just hoped it would not cost him dearly.