When Tsarina Katarin announced her decision to personally lead her army into battle, the response from her advisors, generals, and boyars was immediate and largely one of apprehension.
Katarin was well aware of the doubts surrounding her military experience. Unlike her father, Red Tsar Boris Bokha, who led every battle himself and inspired the nation, she was rarely on the front lines. Instead, she typically relied on delegating authority to her generals and inspectors, making many wonder if she had the necessary command skills.
Ignoring their objections, Katarin coldly stated her decision was final. Her royal bloodline and position made her word absolute within Kislev's court, and so her ministers relented, forced to agree to the plan.
Katarin understood their doubts, but this was her opportunity. She had carefully considered this move, seeing the barbarian invasion as an occasion to unite the nation, win the loyalty of her army and nobles, and consolidate her rule.
She was well aware of the mounting unrest among her people and the army's unpaid wages, thanks to her spies in the Cheka. The more she thought about it, the clearer it became: she needed to rally her country through a personal show of force.
Katarin's reasoning was simple: Ryan, the King of Bretonnia, had achieved centralized authority through strategic marriages and victorious campaigns, such as repelling Egil Red-Eye's invasion, reclaiming Mousillon, and leading the legendary Eight Peaks Expedition. If Ryan, once a lowly knight, could achieve this, then surely she—a powerful sorceress and ruler of Kislev, backed by an army of thousands and the Ice Witch Sisterhood—could do the same.
And with the grand Millennium Celebration approaching, a decisive victory would add a new chapter of glory to both her legacy and that of Kislev.
Her commanders recommended calling off the celebration to focus on war preparations, but Katarin dismissed the idea. "The celebration will continue. When we return victorious, it will mark the peak of our triumph."
Despite the unease of her ministers, Katarin's will prevailed, and her campaign plans were set in motion.
On October 3, the Tsarina issued a national mobilization order, raising the draft ratio from one soldier per five households to one per three.
By October 7, Katarin led 25,000 Kislevite troops northward from the capital to confront the Chaos forces threatening Praag.
On October 10, she was joined by 15,000 reinforcements along the banks of the Lynsk River.
And by October 16, boyar-led troops arrived, swelling her ranks to 63,000.
Katarin's treasury was nearly depleted by the expense of this mobilization, and even then, many soldiers lacked proper winter clothing or quality weapons. But time was pressing. She ordered her forces northward without delay.
By then, Praag was under siege by the Chaos Champion Festus the Leechlord's forces, and its citizens were struggling to hold out.
In the ensuing Battle of Praag, Festus attempted to ambush Katarin's army en route. However, learning from past setbacks, Katarin's forces advanced cautiously. Joined by her elite Ice Guard, Ice Witches, and the Kreml Guard, Katarin unleashed her own icy powers, unleashing winter's fury upon the battlefield. After a brutal 12-hour engagement, Festus received orders from Mortkin to retreat.
The victory at Praag was hailed as a great triumph. Festus's forces suffered 3,500 casualties, forcing them to retreat northward.
But neither side anticipated the scale of the war to come.
Festus was shocked by the size of Katarin's army—80,000 strong. As a chosen champion of Nurgle, he was no fool and saw no reason to face the Kislevite army head-on. Leaving behind a small force to delay Katarin, he withdrew his forces into the frigid wilderness north of Praag.
For her part, Katarin was equally taken aback by the sheer size of the Chaos army besieging Praag. Although she celebrated her victory, she began to suspect the Chaos forces might be more formidable than she had initially assumed.
However, her celebration was short-lived.
Only hours later, urgent news arrived: the fortress of Kralek, northwest of Kislev, had fallen. Wamir Aisling, the Norscan High King, had launched a new offensive from the north.
With the pressure mounting, Katarin ordered her forces to shift westward to meet this new threat. She had grown cautious, advancing slowly to avoid another ambush. This careful approach allowed her forces to sidestep a trap set by the Tzeentch forces, who soon withdrew to regroup for their next assault.
In the following days, the Battle of the Torsol River unfolded along its southern banks, where the Kislevite forces clashed with Norscan warbands. The Kislevite army emerged victorious after fierce fighting, but the heavy losses reminded Katarin's commanders that they faced a relentless foe.
Even with these victories, however, the Kislevite supply lines were under strain. The grueling marches and supply shortages began to wear on the soldiers, who soon received only 350 grams of rye bread per day, with meat rations long gone.
Amid this strain, the Tsarina's forces regrouped at the town of Zedvika, but her situation grew dire. To the east, Festus's Nurgle forces gathered strength. To the northwest, Slaanesh's Champion Prince Sigvald led nearly 39,000 Slaaneshi troops across the Torsol River. And in the west, Wamir Aisling's Norscan army, with its 43,000 warriors, marched ever closer.
Realizing the enormity of the threat, Katarin had her army encamp at Zedvika and consolidated her forces. She took command of a central regiment of 10,000 elite soldiers, while Grand Marshal Dmitri Zayev commanded 20,000 troops in the north, facing Sigvald's army. The western front, with 30,000 troops led by Marshal Rokossovsky, opposed the Norscan Mountain Legion. And the eastern flank was held by 10,000 soldiers under Zaka Fedosev, fortified in the small town of Dagniper.
Each division was tasked with holding the enemy at bay until an opening arose to strike decisively.
As October 30 dawned with heavy snowfall, the small town of Zedvika was packed with troops, the golden dome of Katarin's central command tent visible from afar. Her forces faced a perilous situation, with three Chaos armies tightening their encirclement around Zedvika.
In response, Katarin laid out a plan to break the encirclement, concentrating her forces to rout at least one of the Chaos armies decisively.
But Mortkin, the Eternal Chosen of Chaos and commander of the Tzeentch army, had anticipated this. He observed the Kislevite formations with disdain and laughed. "Does this woman think caution and vigilance alone will defeat us?"
"Pass down my order: under no circumstances are we to engage Katarin's main forces directly. Whenever she appears, retreat and scatter her forces. Her vast army cannot sustain itself indefinitely."
Obeying Mortkin's orders, the Chaos armies adapted to a strategy of relentless feints and hit-and-run attacks. Whenever Katarin's presence bolstered the Kislevite forces, the Chaos troops would fall back, only to advance again once she left.
Meanwhile, Wamir Aisling's forces threatened the Kislevite supply lines, forcing Katarin to march her troops over 100 kilometers in a desperate bid to intercept them. But the Norscan forces withdrew, leaving a furious Katarin to curse her enemies' evasiveness.
Despite her best efforts, the Chaos armies began encircling Zedvika, and Katarin's forces were stretched thin. Supplies dwindled further, morale frayed, and non-combat casualties mounted as winter's bite took its toll.
Faced with an increasingly bleak outlook, Kislev's top commanders made a fateful decision: they would launch an all-out assault, aiming to crush at least one Chaos force in a single decisive strike.
The final showdown was imminent.
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