Game 1: Opponent            : Scott Showalter  Opponent’s Army : Nurgle Daemons Scenario              : Traitor

This would be an immediate test of my decision to go with low magic.  I had told myself that I would hunt down enemy mages quickly to reduce my vulnerability.  I hadn’t considered a ten wound Great Unclean One  when formulating my plan! From memory, Scott’s army consisted of:       Great Unclean One       Exalted Champion (w/mark of Nurgle and Chalice of Chaos)       Bray Shaman (level 2)       2 big units of Plaguebearers (16 to 20)       1 unit of Nurglings (4 bases?)       1 unit of Furies (maybe 8?)       1 smallish Beast Herd (around 12)       1 unit of Nurgle-marked Minotaurs (3 with armor and great weapons) Scott rolled up a decent selection of spells for his GUO: Magnificent Buboes, Effulgent Boils, Glistening Scabs, and Pestilence.  His Bray Shaman ended up with Oxen Stands and Beast Cowers.  Laressa (my sorceress) had her default Chill Wind spell. Our table had a good selection of terrain.  Scott’s side had a pair of woods in it, while one third of my side was sectioned off by a rI positioned my three crossbow units evenly across my deployment line.  My bolt throwers were split to either side of the center crossbow unit.  The corsairs (along with a traitorous plaguebearer!) went into the center behind the crossbows and bolt throwers.  One the left I placed my general’s chariot, the cold one knights (w/ battle standard), and a unit of dark riders.  On the right, I placed a unit of dark riders, the harpies,  and my sorceress (joining the right hand crossbows). Deployment: Scott placed a plaguebearer unit to either side of the center woods.  The Great Unclean One led his right hand unit and the exalted champion led the left hand unit.  Nurglings screened the front of the GUO’s unit.  His furies, bray shaman and beast herd were on his left. His right was protected by his minotaurs.iver.  The scenario dictated that we trade core models and they became “traitors”.  Bonus points would be awarded for killing the traitor.  I put his traitorous plaguebearer in my corsair unit, while a turncoat corsair snuggled up the Great  Unclean One’s belly.

Nurgle Daemons                                             Dark Elves 1. Plaguebearers w/ Great Unclean One      1. Crossbows                            7.  General’s Chariot 2. Plaguebearers w/ Exalted Champion        2. Corsairs                                8.  Dark Riders 3.  Beast Herd w/Bray Shaman                     3. Crossbows w/Sorceress        9.  Bolt Throwers 4.  Furies                                                      4. Dark Riders                         10. COK w/Battlestandard 5.  Minotaurs                                                 5. Harpies    6.  Nurglings                                                  6. Crossbows

Turn One: My dark elves went first.  My center crossbows and bolt throwers managed to kill only two plaguebearers.  My units on the flanks moved forward to try and close in around the daemons.  The daemons oozed forward.  The nurglings still screened the GUO and his plaguebearers and the furies moved to screen the exalted champion and his plaguebearers.  The beast herd and minotaurs moved out to try to slow down my flanking movements.  The bray shaman abandoned the beast herd and cowered in the center woods.  In the magic phase, the GUO killed 5 crossbowmen with Effulgent Boils, but I stopped Pestilence when he cast it on one of the bolt throwers.

Turn Two: My flanking forces moved deeper into the battlefield.  On the left, I had a unit of dark riders sweeping behind the woods to threaten the rear.  Laressa managed to Chill Wind one ungor (noteworthy because I think it was the last time she would be successful during the tournament).  2 more ungors fell to shooting and 5 furies were destroyed by mass bolt thrower fire.  The furies then charged my right hand bolt thrower crew (who fled and weren’t caught).  His minotaurs  turned to ward off the encircling dark riders.  During the magic phase, the GUO killed 1 crossbowman with Magnificent Buboes, I dispelled Effulgent Boils, and then the GUO cast Pestilence on the left hand bolt thrower with irresistible force.

Turn Three: My troops maneuvered further around his flanks.  My fleeing bolt thrower crew rallied.  One more plaguebearer fell to missile fire.  Pestilence killed off one of the bolt thrower’s crew, but the remaining crew member stood firm.  In his turn, the beast herd was unruly and moved towards the dark riders, the minotaurs charged the dark riders (who fled), the furies charged the center crossbows (who stood firm and held), and the sneaky nurglings managed to squeak out a charge against my general’s chariot.  In the magic phase, the bray shaman cast the Beast Cowers on my general’s chariot with irresistible force.  My sorceress dispelled Magnificent Buboes and scrolled Effulgent Boils.  The crossbowmen won their combat (by virtue of a musician) and my general cut down most of a base of nurglings.

Turn Four: In turn four I finally started getting off my butt and trying to hurt someone.  My cold one knights charged the nurglings to bail out my general.  My harpies and dark riders charged his beast herd from two directions, and my dark riders rallied and returned into annoyance range of the minotaurs.  The nurglings lost 8 wounds and the beasts were broken and run down, putting my harpies and dark riders behind him.  In his turn, the minotaurs charged the dark riders.  They stood rather than fleeing off the table. (at this point Scott and I disagreed about whether the minotaurs could finish their charge because of the amorphous nature of the cloth table edge.  They would either be able to fit between the table edge and woods and reach or have to enter the woods and fail.  We ended up dicing for it and the minotaurs ended up in the woods.).   His Exalted Champion and plaguebearers turned to guard against the dark riders and harpies.  Pestilence wiped out the sickend bolt thrower.  I let the Beast Cowers go through on my general’s chariot, but stopped Effulgent Boils when the GUO cast it on my Corsairs.  The battle between the furies and crossbowmen continued.  Both sides whittling the other down, but neither getting the upper hand.   Even with the Beast Cowers on his cold ones, my general finished off the nurglings.

Turn 5: My dark riders charged his shaman who fled, leaving the dark riders mired in the edge of the wood.  My general’s chariot moved out to threaten him, but the cold one knights failed their stupidity test.  My bolt thrower crew re-crewed their machine.  My corsairs tried to charge the fury/crossbow fight in front of them but failed their fear test.   In his turn, the Exalted Champion and his plaguebearers tried to charge the dark riders (who fled off the table, owing in part to our ruling about the amorphous cloth table edge).  His bray shaman failed to rally.  The fury/crossbow stalemate continued, each of us losing another model.

Turn 6: In the last turn, my general charged his exalted champion and plaguebearers in the flank.  The harpies were just out of LOS to charge his Bray Shaman.  The corsairs tried charging the furies again and this time passed their fear test.  In the shooting phase, the left hand crossbowmen got into the action and put one wound on the Bray Shaman.  The rear charge from the corsairs destroyed the furies and the corsairs overran out of the GUO’s charge arc, saving them from certain doom in turn 6B.  The highborn and his chariot were disappointing, only managing to kill 5 plaguebearers after combat resolution was complete.  In Scott’s last turn, the Bray Shaman rallied and the Exalted Champion moved into fighting position.  A challenge was issued and my High Born squared off with him.  He hit and wounded 5 times, only to have me make all but one of my saves.  My highborn only managed to put one wound on him and the rest of the fight only resulted in one more plaguebearer falling.

Conclusion: For all of the maneuvering that took place, not much real damage was done to either side.  When the points were tallied, I was ahead by just enough to squeak out a minor victory (by 17 points!).  Neither side managed to kill the other’s traitor, so I guess that rotting plaguebearer follows the corsairs home.  I thought this was the most fun of the 3 games I played at the tournament.  Scott is a good player and we managed to get through our only disagreement smoothly.  95% of his army was painted very well, and I'll forgive three unpainted minotaurs.   His army was really restricted because of the investment in the Great Unclean One but I don't blame him for playing it.  It's an awesome model and Scott's conversion and paintjob were very nice.  Hopefully I'll get to face off against him again after the Storm of Chaos book is released and his army is upgraded to a Daemonic Legion.

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