It has been a while since I’ve managed to get in a game of The Old World, and even longer since I played against anything other than Wood Elves. I still fought elves, but my Beasts of Nurgle appreciated the change in flavor! We decided to add some objectives to the game. The three poker chips in the middle of the field were worth 250 points each to whichever player controlled them at the end of the game. It gave me even more reason than normal to push forward and get to grips with my enemies!

Daemons of Chaos – GUO – [1997pts] # ++ Main Force ++ [1997pts]

## Characters [956pts]

Daemon Prince [356pts]: Ensorcelled weapon, Hand Weapon, Daemon of Nurgle, Wizard Level 4, Battle Magic, Heavy Armour, Fly (9)

Great Unclean One [355pts]: Hand Weapon, General, Wizard Level 1, Battle Magic, Plagueflail

Herald of Nurgle [245pts]: Plaguesword, Daemonic Locus, Trappings Of Nurgle, Totem Of Eternal War, Palanquin Of Nurgle (Hand Weapon), Death’s Heads

## Core [504pts]

Plaguebearers Of Nurgle [252pts]: • 18x Plaguebearer [13pts]: Plaguesword • 1x Plagueridden [6pts] • 1x Standard Bearer [6pts] • 1x Musician [6pts]

Plaguebearers Of Nurgle [252pts]: • 18x Plaguebearer [13pts]: Plaguesword • 1x Plagueridden [6pts] • 1x Standard Bearer [6pts] • 1x Musician [6pts]

## Special [537pts]

Beasts Of Nurgle [186pts]: • 3x Beast of Nurgle [62pts]: Hand Weapon, Writhing tentacles

Nurglings [135pts]: • 3x Nurglings [45pts]: Hand Weapon

Plague Drones Of Nurgle [216pts]: Rot Fly, Venom sting • 3x Plaguebearer [63pts]: Death’s Heads, Plaguesword • 1x Plagueridden [7pts] • 1x Standard Bearer [7pts] • 1x Musician [7pts]

High Elves

Prince/Griffon/armor of caledor/seed of rebirth/GW

Noble/Battle Standard Bearer/lion chariot/talisman of protection/seed of rebirth/GW -L4 mage/illusion/silver wand

7 archers x2

6 silver helms

5 reavers/short bows

12 swordmasters

frostheart phoenix

5 sisters of avelorn/ruby ring

Bolt Thrower

Note: The eagle eyed amongst you might noticemMy friend grabbed the wrong models for his cavalry so used his Dragon Princes as Silver Helms and his Silver Helms as the Reavers.

The opening line ups. It was an interesting option for me to be able to have multiple fast movers on a flank, lets see if I took advantage of the extra mobile element or just got it stuck behind a hill or something all game!

I won the roll for the first turn and quickly pushed my troops up as far as they could go. I wanted to get my troops out of magic and archer range as quick as possible, although the elven left flank was a bit scary with the chariot and the big unit of Swordmasters! In the magic phase my Daemon Prince was able to immolate three Reavers with a Fireball, although he probably should have aimed at those Sisters of Averlorn lurking in the forest with their ruby ring wielding champion….

The High Elves moved their mobile elements forward to prepare to engage the Nurgle mobile forces. The depleted Reavers threw themselves in harms way to block one of the Plaguebearer blocks from advancing too quickly, and the Elves rearranged their left flank slightly to better meet the advancing plague of filth. The High Elves many years of archery practice really showed as their Bolt Thrower put two wounds on the Daemon Prince while the Ruby Ring of the Sisters of Averlorn put three wounds on the Plague Drones!

The Plague Drones didn’t like being shot at, and liked the thought of being charged by the Lord on Griffon even less so they charged the archer unit with the hope of chasing it down and getting out of the charge arc of the winged beast. The Daemon Prince had a similar plan with jumping on the Bolt Thrower and overrunning the crew to avoid the Frostheart Phoenix. With nothing else to do the Plaguebearer block charged the remaining Reavers, fully expecting them to flee. The brave horsemen opted to stand and fight instead! The Daemon right flank moved forward to get to grips with the elves opposite them. The Plague Drones beat the archers in combat and chased them down, their swift stride getting them out of the Griffons arc of sight, the Daemon Prince made short work of the offending bolt thrower and also over ran out of line of sight. The Plaguebearers were not surprisingly able to beat the Reavers but only managed to kill one of them. They were able to gain a few inches by overrunning and the lone Reaver would never rally.

In the High Elf turn the elves took their turn to bring the fight to the enemy. The Battle Standard Bearer led the Silver Helms into charging the pack of Beasts of Nurgle while the Frostheart Phoenix and the Lord and his Griffon worked their way to prime positions to charge in a following turn. The elven mage was able to cast a crystal pillar which was going to cause problems for both the Great Unclean One and the Plaguebearers in moving next turn. With limited things to shoot at the elves were only able to kill a single Plaguebearer and failed to wound the Great Unclean One. The combined charge of the chariot and Silver Helms only put three wounds on the Beasts of Nurgle which “hugged” three of the Silver Helms in return. The Beasts were pushed back but didn’t take any wounds due to the close enough proximity of the Great Unclean One.

The Plague Bearers did not want to charge the Sword Masters but it was either fight them alone or wait for the Elves to finish off the Beasts and have to fight on two fronts so in they went. The Nurglings figured they could use a new friend so charged into the Frostheart Phoenix. Meanwhile the Plague Drones and the Daemon Prince flew over to the center of the field to set up charges next turn. The Nurglings put two wounds on the Frostheart Phoenix, but the noble beast was enraged by the indignity of being charged by Nurglings and put five wounds on the little manifestations of disease and pushed them back. This wouldn’t be the first time I couldn’t find a 5+, 6+ to save my life this game! On the other flank the beasts were able to kill off the remaining Silver Helms but lost the combat due to some good rolling by the Battle Standard Bearer. Even with the Locus re-roll on their leadership they still took wounds from combat resolution despite the Great Unclean One being close as well. The Nurgle forces luck turned when it came to the Sword Masters combat though. While the Plaguebearers lost a few of their number to the adepts of Hoeth their combination of static combat resolution and wounds had them win the combat. Even worse for the Swordmasters the Plaguebearers just outnumbered them 2:1 and forced them to flee. Even worse than that for the High Elf cause the Plaguebearers were in position to overrun into the Elven mage, so while the Swordmasters were able to get away the much more valuable Mage was in deep trouble!

In the elven turn the Frostheart Phoenix continued to fight the Nurglings, and the Lord and his mount charged the rear of the Plaguebearers. The Swordmasters must have realized they left their stoves on back at Hoeth and continued their flight off the board. Up to this point the High Elf player had failed a lot of leadership tests, as well as magic cast tests but due to re-rolls was able to pass on the second attempt. Without a re-roll these paragons of elven virtue ran off the field! It wasn’t all bad news though as the Battle Standard Bearer was able to finish the Beasts of Nurgle off as they once again suffered from poor Instability rolls and the Frostheart Phoenix was able to drop the Nurglings down to one stand after making all its armor saves from the multiple poison wounds it suffered! Things were about to turn south for the High Elves though as we turned our attention to the main combat. Neither player wanted to issue a challenge. The High Elf lord did not want to get stuck fighting a unit champion and the Nurgle Demons didn’t want to issue a challenge as they didn’t want the mage getting out of combat with the Herald and the troops of the first rank. The lord and his griffon caused two wounds, and earned a point of combat resolution with a wound saved by regeneration. At the front of the combat the Herald and his Nurglings put two wounds on the mage and everyone in the game and watching held their breath as the front rank swung next. Only one wound was caused, but it was enough to strike the mage down dead! The Demons managed to win the combat and turned to reengage the lord as he fell back in good order!

In the Nurgle turn I took advantage of a spot of luck. When I maneuvered my Great Unclean One into position to potential rescue the Plaguebearers if they survived the rear charge of the Griffon I was set up at a bad angle. Had the Griffon won the combat he would have been able to push forward two inches and would have been out of the Great Unclean Ones line of sight. Fortunately the Plaguebearers won, allowing me to charge the rear of the Lord instead of wandering around aimlessly! The remaining Nurglings charged the Frostheart Phoenix while the Plague Drones charged the Sisters of Averlorn. The Frostheart killed the last Nurgling stand, the Plague Drones killed four of the five Sisters of Averlorn and overran into the archers. The Great Unclean One took a wound from the lord and failed to return the favor but won the combat due to static combat resolution. Both Nurgle units opted to stay in base to base contact with the Lord in hopes of adding more wounds next turn.

The Frostheart Phoenix and Battle Standard Bearer joined in the fight with the Great Unclean One and the unit of Plaguebearers. This fight had the chance to be decisive! Meanwhile the remaining Sister of Averlorn continued her flight off the board. The High Elves had a disappointing combat. The Nurgle Herald took a few wounds, but only three Plaguebearers were killed, and the Great Unclean One put a wound on the High Elf lord. The High Elves won combat and followed up on the Deamons to continue the fight next turn! In what turned out to be an embarrassment for Nurgle himself the High Elf archers were actually able to push back the Plague Drones in close combat! (Note: My friend has his Frostheart Phoenix magnetized for transport and when the model needs to fit in tight spots. In the last picture the Frostheart was set behind the main combat but you can see his base to the left of the Griffon.)

By throwing back the forces of Nurgle and reengaging the High Elves were able to prevent the Great Unclean One from getting into combat with the Lord on Griffon so he had to settle for charging the Frostheart. The wounded Daemon Prince took the risk of charging into the combat against the Battle Standard Bearer. The combat was a bloody affair with the Griffon wiping out the remainder of the Plaguebearers, the Great Unclean One finished off the Frostheart and the Daemon Prince and Battle Standard Bearer swung at each other to no effect. The forces of Nurgle lost the combat but none of the surviving Daemons took any wounds from instability. The Griffon overran to get away from the angry Great Unclean One and flew off the board. The Battle Standard Bearer reengaged the Daemon Prince as it couldn’t get away. The Plague Drones were able to redeem themselves and killed enough archers to break them and fly (fly, get it?) them down!

In the High Elf turn the Griffon returned to the board and the Battle Standard Bearer and the Daemon Prince continued to ineffectively swing at each other. This was so exciting I forgot to take a picture!

In the final Nurgle turn of the game the Great Unclean One charged the Battle Standard Bearer while Plague Drones flew over to take control of one of the objectives. The Battle Standard Bearer put the final wounds on the Daemon Prince but the Great Unclean One put three wounds on him in return. The Battle Standard Bearer fell back in good order and the Great Unclean One followed up. I should have thought about issuing a challenge to save the Daemon Prince but time was running out at the shop so we were in hurry up and finish mode!

In the final turn of the game the Great Unclean One was able to finally defeat the triple saves of the Battle Standard Bearer and kill him off while the general watched from afar. With that combat the game was over, Victory to Nurgle!

This was a fun game for me, I really enjoyed the extra mobility the Daemon Prince provided. I do need to remember he isn’t as tough as I think he doesn’t have normal Nurgle Toughness or Nurgle Regeneration or Wounds but I can work around that next time. I’m not sure I should take Battle Magic with him in the future as two of the spells don’t help the list but that’s something to think about for next time. I wonder if I can figure out how to fit in a few Furies. Maybe dropping the Beasts back down to two models is worth a shot.

As always I hope you enjoyed the read, I’ll see you all next time!

-Wachtmeister