The Desolation of Leviathan

The Desolation of Leviathan

After the Death, most of the proud cities of Mankind lay in ruins. The gods of Light were dead or gone. The powers of Darkness surveyed the wreckage of the world they had conquered and found it good. The once-fertile heartlands were poisoned desert, and the midworld sea had become a plain of glittering, polychromatic salt. Wild magic danced from pole to pole, and everything that felt its touch was altered forever. Amid the smouldering wreckage of civilization, the survivors trembled, for the princes of the Fallen now walked among them.

Barbarians: Guardians of the Earth

The Northmen never bowed the knee, even when the Empire of the Elves was at the height of its power. They dwelled in their cold forbidding lands and defied the power of the Dragon Lords. When the Death came and their weaker brethren, who had pledged fealty to the Elf Princes, were dying by the millions, the clans of the North survived mostly untouched, for they had been made hardy by their struggles with each other and their savage land. As the Death spread and new lands became vacant the clans began to drift southward drawn by rumours of plunder and tales from their old legends which called them to take sides in the last battle between the forces of Good and Evil. Their Druids wield great power, binding Elementals to their will and their warriors were mighty. In battle with the legions of the Fallen they were the only forces of mankind to win any kind of victory although, not even their savage battle prowess could halt the inevitable spread of the darkness. Bound into great Clans, packed to their tribal gods, led by chieftains advised by their wise Druids, the Clans seemed the best hope of mankind surviving in the new world.

Elves: Champions of the Abyss

The Elves, most ancient of all the races, once referred to themselves as the Blessed Folk. They seemed to have been showered with all the gifts of the Old Gods. They possessed great beauty, penetrating intelligence, the ability to work magic and life spans measured in millennia. For long ages they ruled their Empire with compassion, decency and respect for their subject peoples. In many places the Elf satraps were worshipped like gods. They had a reputation for fairness and plain dealing, combined with a deadly ruthlessness when crossed. Only the Ores and the northern clans of Men escaped coming under their dominion at the height of their Empires power. However, it was also the Elves who freed the Fallen and brought about the Death. Since that time their name has become a curse and with justification. In the last days of their Empire when the Elf Princes were reaching out to grasp the final secrets of Creation, their people became decadent, luxury loving and corrupt. This may have been simply the final stage of their civilisation or it may have been that the seals holding the Fallen were already weakening and their influence was already being felt in the Obelisk cities where magic was strongest. The causes do not matter. The results do. The Elvish Emperor freed the imprisoned demon Gods. When the Fallen came their policy was simple. Those Elves who would not serve them would die. Many indeed refused and were slain by their more corrupt brethren. The result has been that the surviving Elves are the worst of their race; corrupt, cruel, decadent and revelling wholeheartedly in all the evil that the Fallen brought. They now rule a shrunken remnant of their old global Empire and seek to appease whichever of the Fallen is in the ascendant. Their armies are still powerful and their dragons are still among the most formidable living engines of destruction on the planet but the power of the Elves has been eclipsed by the might of the Fallen.

Dwarves: Keepers of the Source

The Dwarves were ever the artificers and armourers of the Elvish Empire. They built mighty war machines and siege engines. They excavated great mines and they built enormous fortresses beneath the bones of mountains. They were always a canny folk, cautious and clever with their hands. They lived under the mountains and paid tribute to the Elves in gold, machines and intricately worked jewellery. When the Death came the Dwarves suffered least. They closed the Great Gates of their underground cities and allowed no strangers to pass. There, shielded from the tides of Wild Magic and the evil spells of the Fallen, they waited for the doom of the world to pass. While they waited strange events happened. Seeing the danger to their entire race and the corruption of their former rulers, the Dwarf Kings decided to ignore the ancient law of the Elves which forbade them from experimenting with their technology. In short order they had refined steampower and went from using the blackpowder to create fireworks to using it to create new weapons such as cannons and blunderbuss’. They made airships of their own using technology not magic. Now they have emerged from their citadels to explore this new world and take part in the battles against the Fallen, for they realise that if they do not aid the other races in this struggle, eventually even their well-protected halls will fall, when all else has gone down in darkness.

Orcs: Warriors of Death

From the endless plains of the East, the Orc Hordes have come. Once they were wild nomadic tribes, locked in endless battle for survival and with each other. When their numbers grew great they would launch attacks on the Empire of the Elves, scourging it until the Elves mustered their forces and drove them back, usually with awful casualties. With the coming of the Death, the Ores have multiplied. These brutal creatures are perfectly adapted for the new and savage world the Fallen rule. They live only to fight and plunder and they seek nothing more than the death of their foes. The Orc Khans have refused to bow their heads to the Fallen and have continued to cut a savage path under the banner of their own God, Gorath. Some of the wise claim that this being is the fifth Prince of the Fallen who shields his chosen people. Whether this is true or not some power is protecting the great Hordes from the wrath of the Demon Gods. Paired with their mighty reptilian warbeasts, they are carving new kingdoms out of the wreckage of the old world, marking vast areas of the Old Elvish Empire as their own.

Games

Leviathan: Lords of Havoc

Unleash Hell!

Leviathan: Lords of Havoc is a 10mm scale tabletop wargame which enables you fight large scale battles full of awesome devastation, clashes of formations, and withering exchanges of firepower. The emphases are on command decisions, strategic placement and manouevering your units to give you the best chance of victory once battle is joined. You need to keep your opponent guessing where and when the hammer blow is going to fall, and at the same time, ensure your army can respond to their advances and assaults. Manoeuvre, assault and occupy strategic locations on the battlefield, and wherever you meet the enemy, destroy them with the application of overwhelming force.

Leviathan: Classic Range

Leviathan

Leviathan is a fast-playing, dynamic, 28mm tabletop fantasy battle system set in a world on the brink of destruction.

Any number of players can play the game, each controlling anything from a single unit up to armies of twenty units or more.

Alternate movement allows for development of interesting tactical situations, which provokes intelligent and constructive strategies.

The original book published in 1995 contains a general introduction, specific background information on the five races: Orcs, Goblins, Dwarves, Elves, and Barbarians, rules section and army lists for the various races including points systems, tables, and counter sheets.

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