Army lists:
Daemons
- Great Unclean One, general, Chaos Runeblade, Great Destroyer
- Epidemius
- 3x 10-man Plaguebearers, full command
- Soul Grinder
Beastmen
- Doombull (proxied by Bloodletter standard bearer), Great axe, general, Chaos Runeblade, Lord of War
- Ghorgon (proxied by Slaaneshi spawn)
- 3x 3-man Bullgors (proxied by Bloodletters on 40mm bases), Great axes
- Warscroll Battalion: Bullgor Stampede
Skaven
- Plague Priest, general, Crown of Command
- Verminlord Corruptor (proxied by a model on a large blast template)
- 2x 20-man Plague Monks, Foetid Blades, Icon of Pestilence
- Plague Furnace (proxied by models on chariot base)
- 2x Warpfire Thrower
- Warscroll Battalion: Congregation of Filth
Summary
We spent four turns just maneuvering and thinning each other's armies, with the first grab for the artefact taking place in turn 5. Well, all of our generals were slow, so it made sense not to try a run for it. The game got pretty tense then, with the winner emerging in the final turn.
Deployment
I deployed first, placing the Grinder, the Great Unclean One and a squad of Plaguebearers on the table. My opponents then deployed as far as possible from the Grinder - Skaven top left, Beastmen top right. Come to think of it, the Grinder underperformed this game. However, he had a massive psychological effect, and determined a lot of the other armies' moves. I think it was worth it.
Turn 1.
I let the Skaven go first. His positioning made it for an obvious attack on the Beastmen, and I didn't want to chance the Beastmen moving away, towards me. So the Plague Furnace and the two units of Plague Monks advanced, with the Plague Priest appearing on the table.
I was up next and moved everything up the field.
The Beastmen advanced towards the artefact, keeping the middle ground between the Daemons and Skaven.
Turn 2.
I got first turn so I cautiously moved up the field. I positioned the Grinder at maximum range from the Doombull and unloaded all the shots, causing only one wound.
The Skaven split their forces, moving the Plague Furnace and one unit of Plague Monks to assault the Beastmen. I believe this was a tactical error, as it set up 2/3 of the Skaven units against everything the Beastmen deployed on the first turn. However, that Plague Furnace is terrifying, so it could have gone well.
However, the Plague Furnace did absolutely nothing (except rolling 1s). By the time the Beastmen finished their turn, they had melted away the rats, only loosing one unit of Bullgors in the process.
Turn 3.
I went first again. I sent one unit of Plaguebearers to oversee the objective but keep behind the hill so as to deny a charge. I sent in the Grinder to take care of a unit of Bullgors that had advanced towards me, while shooting the Doombull, but causing no damage.
Of course, the Grinder failed miserably in inflicting damage. The Beastmen capitalized by sending in the Ghorgon.
By the end of the Beastmen turn, the Grinder was down to 1 wound.
The Skaven went next, moving the Verminlord Corruptor up the field.
The Skaven player chose the Beastmen to go first in combat, assuring the destruction of the Grinder.
Turn 4.
Skaven went first, sending in a unit of Plague Monks to deal with my Plaguebearers and moving in the Verminlord to protect the general heading towards the artefact. At this point the Tally of Nurgle (as kept by Epidemius) reached the first level.
I went next, sending in another unit of Plaguebearers against the rats. With both units having the Nurgle keyword, the Tally was sure to go up soon.
I kept my general away from the fray, allowing the Skaven and the Beastmen to duke it out.
Which may have been a mistake at this point.
The combined charge of the Ghorgon and the Doombull evaporated the Verminlord. The Skaven were now mostly out of the game, with the weapon crews trudging up the field with their short range firethrowers.
Turn 5.
Beastmen went first. The Doombull ran for the artefact, capturing it. The remaining troops advanced towards me, but failed their charge.
It was my turn next. I moved up the Great Unclean One, and rolled to charge. 9 needed to get up the hill and reach the Doombull. Double six!
I also sent in the last free unit of Plaguebearers to hold up the remaining Beastmen.
That went worse than expected, with the Beastmen tearing through the lesser Daemons. However, I still had one guy left, and he tied up the Bullgors. The Doombull inflicted no damage on my general.
Skaven turn! Out of options, the Skaven general charged in and managed to take off the last wound of the Doombull.
And then promptly died to the Great Unclean one.
Turn 6.
This was the first turn where the game could possibly end. It was tense and I forgot to take pictures.
The Skaven went first, shot the Great Unclean One with an overcharged warpfire thrower that only managed to wound itself, then charged it in the hopes of tying me up. No success.
I captured the artefact, then charged the Ghorgon, killing it. I brought Epidemius out of the forest, just to present another target/distraction.
The Beastmen went next. The Bullgors charged the Great Unclean One, but did not manage to kill it.
At the end of the turn, the Skaven player rolled a 3 on a d3, so the game ended. Daemon victory!
Aftermath
We discussed the battle while tidying up the table. It was a tense and close game, and we had each had a chance at victory.
The Doombull really shined at damage output. I had witnessed the Bullgors inflicting horrendous casualties before, but the way the Doombull ripped apart the Verminlord now really had me respecting it.
The Skaven did what they supposed to do and died in droves, inflicting casualties of their own. The player was disappointed that he couldn't deploy his whole army and missed the ranged support of the firethrowers. Not sure if anything could have been done differently, as deploying only the firethrowers would have left him woefully at understrenght in the beginning.
As for the Daemons, this battle showed that Nurgle units are really resilient, though not very killy. It was an unexpected surprise that most of the Skaven units also had the Nurgle keyword, so their kills also racked up the tally, and they also got the bonuses.
The game type was very fun, and it's not called Triumph and Treachery for nothing. A lot of time was spent trying to sweet talk our opponents into doing stuff, with alternating success.
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