If you read the last battle report between my buddies High Elves and my Daemons you’ll recognize my list! I’m not known for fancy changes, but my buddy did try out a different set up! This time his Griffon came out to play.
We did a battle line with a central objective worth an additional 200 VP’s to whichever army controlled it at the end of the game.
Daemons of Chaos – GUO – [1992pts]
## 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 [500pts]
16 Plaguebearers Of Nurgle [226pts] with full command
15 Plaguebearers Of Nurgle [213pts] with full command
5 Furies of Nurgle [60]
## Special [537pts]
3 Beasts Of Nurgle [186pts]:
3 Nurglings [135pts]
3 Plague Drones Of Nurgle [216pts]: Rot Fly, Venom sting with full command
• 3x Plaguebearer [63pts]: Death’s Heads, Plaguesword
High Elves
Characters – 845 pts
Archmage [273pts] Seed of Rebirth, Silvery Wand, Foe Bane, Full Plate, Level 4, Barded Steed
Noble [206pts] Longbow, Great Weapon, Seed of Rebirth, Full Plate, BSB, shield
Prince [366pts] Seed of Rebirth, Charmed Shield, Dragon Helm, Ogre Blade, Full plate, Griffon
Core – 504 pts
5 Ellyrian Reavers [109pts] Champion, Musician, Skirmishers
5 Elven Archers [50pts]
24 Lothern Sea Guard [345pts] Sea Master, Standard Bearer (Razor Standard), Musician, Shields
Special – 293 points
6 Dragon Princes [293pts] Drakemaster (Ring of Fury), Standard Bearer (War Banner), Musician
Rare – 353 points
Eagle-Claw Bolt Thrower [80pts]
Eagle-Claw Bolt Thrower [80pts]
Eagle-Claw Bolt Thrower [80pts]
5 Sisters of Averlorn [112pts] High Sister (Ruby Ring of Ruin)
The opening battle lines.
Looks like I didn’t take many pictures in the High Elves or Daemons first turn. The High Elves did a little jockying for position and sent a lot of shots at the Great Unclean One but failed to wound him due to his high toughness and my seemingly natural ability to make saves. The Nurgle Daemons made a general advance across the board. The Daemon prince cast fireball at the Reavers killing three of them, and dropped a Pillar of Fire right in front of the survivors. The Elven Archmage was too far away to stop the Daemon Prince’s spells and the table roll just wasn’t enough to stop the foul magic.
The High Elves started with having to contend with the Pillar of Fire moving through their light troops, killing off the remaining Reavers and killing three of the five Sisters of Averlorn. The Archmage could do nothing but gnash his teeth at the magical pillar as he was too far away to dispell the pillar of death. The Dragon Princes took the opportunity to charge a unit of Plaguebearers and the Elven line opened fire on the Great Unclean One. Despite being shot at by no less than three bolt throwers and the entire Elven line the Great Unclean One only took two wounds. (I think he probably saved 10 or so wounds in the first two turns of the battle, he left the battle looking like a sickly porcupine!) While the Daemon Prince was too far away from the Archmage to have his spells stopped the reverse was true as well and the Dragon Princes made good use of Spectral Doppelganger, Hammerhand, and Glittering Robes to batter the daemons but with poor rolls on the elven side the unit only lost eight daemons and with a good instability roll, assisted by the Herald and his Totem of Eternal War didn’t lose any additional models.
The Pillar of Fire moved through the unit of archers killing three of them and got dangerously close to the Lothern Sea Guard. Once again the Archmage was too far away to dispell the pillar and the proud Seaguard started to sweat. The furies moved up to pounce on the surviving Sisters of Averlorn or a Bolt thrower in the next turn while the rest of the line adjusted themselves to better select targets next turn. The Nurglings moved up to block the Dragon Princes second charge of the Plaguebears after the infantry kindly stepped back to let them in! The Daemon Prince stood in front of one of the Bolt Throwers daring it to shoot at him and casually cast Fireball at the Sisters of Averlorn finishing the unit off. Looks like the Furies will need to east something else next turn!
The Pillar of Fire continued its rampage through the elven lines killing six Lothern Sea Guard and putting a wound on the Battle Standard Bearer on his chariot! The Dragon Princes charged the Nurglings and the Archmage cast the Miasmic Mirage on the Plaguebears and their Herald on his units flank, preventing them from charging next turn! The Bolt Throwers hit the Daemon Prince who managed to save the wound with his 4+ ward save, and the rest of the army again tried taking down the Great Unclean One who only took a wound. The Dragon Princes whittled down the Nurglings who lost a total of nine wounds but managed to stick around, again thanks to a decent roll and the Heralds Totem of Eternal War. That thing is really good now that I’ve started to remember he has it! The Dragon Princes followed up this turn as it was the Daemon turn next.
In what is becoming a tale of woe for the High Elves the Pillar of Fire once again ripped through their lines killing another five Sea Guard. The survivors reformed in the face of the Great Unclean Ones charge while the surviving archers faced down the charge of the Beasts of Nurgle. The Great Unclean One just managed to win his combat with the help of Hammerhand and pushed the Sea Guard right up to their Lord and his Griffon while the Beasts showed they are really just friendly dogs and failed to kill either of the archers and just pushed them back! 2D6+3 attacks and they failed to kill a single elf! Oh well, they are good boys, how can you be mad at them? The High Elves put enough wounds and combat resolution to kill off the Nurglings with anything but the perfect instability test and when the dice landed it was a 2! Can’t do much better than that, so the little guys survived another turn!
In the High Elf turn the Battle Standard Bearer spurred his chariot into the Plaguebearers supported by no less than the Lord and his Griffon! The Great Unclean One killed eight Sea Guard but sensing better opportunity behind him did not follow up and turned in place for a charge next turn. Those tricksy elves then went with the Dragon Princes who with their Archmage casting his Doppleganger finished off the poor Nurglings. The Dragon Princes took good advantage of being Drilled and adjusted their frontage so their overrun would take them into both the previously beat up Plaguebearers but also brought themselves into the unit next to them as well! So, so tricksy! The Plaguebearers and their Herald were no match for the combined assault and took a massive amount of wounds. The already beat up unit ceased to exist while the big unit ended up with only four Plaguebearers. The Griffon opted to not follow up as he was sensing the Great Unclean One breathing down his neck, while the Beasts of Nurgle turned to face as well after killing off the two archers they embarrassingly didn’t kill last turn!
The Daemon Prince who had charged and killed a Bolt Thrower last turn moved up to support the center with some magic, while the Furies charged another one of the Bolt Throwers and the Plague Flies who had been getting in the Lords way in the first few turns charged the other remaining Bolt Thrower. The Plague Flies killed the Bolt Thrower and overran into the remaining Sea Guard and the Furies failed to even scratch their Bolt Thrower. The Beasts of Nurgle Charged the Lord while the Great Unclean One prepared for the sprint of his life (ok, fine, he only needed a 3) and charged the Battle Standard Bearer who was still locked in combat along with the Dragon Princes against the remaining Plaguebearers and the Herald. The Beasts put a wound on the Lord but took two wounds in return and so were pushed back. The Lord saw juicer targets further afield and opted to not follow up. The Great Unclean One cleaved the Battle Standard Bearer into little pieces while the Dragon Princes killed three more Plaguebearers. The Dragon Princes fell back and without time to finish the game we stopped there.
While the game ended in a Nurgle Victory by about 400 points, plus the 200 points for the objective in the center of the table, but it would have been interesting to see how it would have ended with one more turn. The High Elf player controlling the Griffon said he was going to send it after the Daemon Prince. I think the Daemon Prince would likely have died against the Ogre Blade wielding lord and his feathered mount but his loss would be at least partially balanced out by the probable death of the last Bolt Thrower and the rest of the Sea Guard. The real question would have been what would have happened between the Great Unclean One, the Herald, his remaining Plaguebearer and the Dragon Princes. I think the Elves would have finished off the unit, but without a charge they would be hard pressed to kill the Herald, and the Great Unclean One would probably kill the mage in the unit. I definitely wish we could have finished this last turn, it would have been interesting for sure!
My buddy Manteuffel over at Wargaming from the Balcony wrote this report from his side of the table, it’s worth it for the pictures alone! You’ll note we have a fairly significant disagreement on the order of events. He remembers the Nurgle Daemons having the first turn, and I remember the High Elves having the first turn. We both agree the High Elves would have had the next turn because the Griffon was going to charge the Daemon Prince. When we play we never start a turn we won’t be able to finish so it is unlikely to me we played my half of turn 6 knowing we weren’t going to be able to finish the High Elf turn 6. I also recall offering to just roll off the Griffon Lord/Daemon Prince fight to see what would have happened and Manteuffel reminded me it would have taken two turns, again indicating the High Elves went first.
-Wachtmeister
The Wachtmeister's Patrol 