The last three members of the notorious Eisen Expedition had survived countless hazards in their storied careers, from the arctic wastelands of Noxdorma to the smoke-shrouded trenches of the Cynodont Hegemony. Now they perched on a ridgeline in Anund, picking off Vydar’s elite Necrotech soldiers with a steady rain of rifle fire. Suddenly, a lurking Geistfire snapped off a sickly green blast from its oversized hand cannon, nearly putting an end to the Expedition’s leader.

“I say,” muttered Sir Barclay Haddish, examining the perfectly round hole the beam punched through his battered top hat. “That was a close shave.”

“That?” snorted Aida Beesley, her long ears twitching as she sighted down the scope of her Smythe-Nesbitt carbine. “That was nought but a tickle to keep you on your toes.” She squeezed the trigger and the offending Geistfire’s head exploded in shards of bone and metal. “Remember when we were trapped in the ice caverns of Aput with a pack of hungry Gnarlfurs hot on our heels?”

“Of course he remembers,” snapped Henry Barlow. “We had to detonate our haul of cyaline to collapse the cave, and he never stops complaining about all the profit we lost. Never mind that it cost me an arm.” He flexed his robotic prosthesis to demonstrate. Far below, a host of Necrotech Reavers swarmed the fallen Geistfire, jockeying to be the first to cannibalize its cannon.

“Oh, quit your whinging,” said Sir Haddish. “You got a new one, didn’t you? A better one, too, by my measure. Anyway, that wasn’t a close shave. Do you recall when we stumbled into a Blackburne Bombardiers bar after our side won the regatta? And tried to start a cheer? I’m amazed we lived to tell the tale.”

The revving of chain axes ricocheted off the walls of the ravine as a battalion of Chain Gruts descended the ridge to overrun Vydar’s battle lines. “Well lads,” said Beesley, “looks like we live to fight another day! You owe me a drink.”

The Eisen Expedition are available in the Clockwork Combine Research Expedition army expansion. Pre-order now for a July 2026 release!