#161: RCGT - Game 5 Battle Report and Event Wrap-Up - Maggotkin of Nurgle Vs. Grand Host of Nagash - Better Part of Valour

Upon reaching my final game with a 3-1 track record, I was stoked to be facing Tim as my last opponent. His army, however, was going to give me a real tough time. Here's what I was facing.

Grand Host of Nagash

Nagash (General)

Arkhan the Black

Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (Ethereal Amulet)

10 Dire Wolves (Battleline)

10 Dire Wolves (Battleline)

5 Dire Wolves (Battleline)

5 Dire Wolves (Battleline)

10 Hexwraiths

Geminids of Uhl-Gysh

Soulsnare Shackles

Mortalis Terminexus

Vault of Souls

Lots of dogs, and wizards that were far superior to mine in every way... Alright. 

The scenario was Better Part of Valour, so I knew that I was in with a change, even against the arcane might of Nagash and Arkhan. This game would be won or lost very early on. I was confident in holding my objectives pretty securely, but the test would be if I had enough punch to flood any of his objectives and burn them.

I stacked my right side with bodies, to make sure that I at least held them for most of the game. The Pusgoyles were atop the hill, in range of both the Bell and the Lord of Afflictions, giving them the speed they need to hit just about anywhere on the board. And on my left objective, Festus was protected by the Blight Kings and the second Jabberslythe. That was definitely my weak side, but I had every intention of burning it early, and consolidating onto my centre and right objectives. 

With most of his spells out of range, Tim chose to give me the first turn, which I gladly accepted.

They say the best defence is a good offence. So, I pushede with almost my entire army. The Great Unclean One sat back out of range of Hand of Dust, and the Lord of Blights on the hill summoned five Plaguebearers on the right objective, but just about everything else pushed up. The Pusgoyles barrelled across the field to punch Nagash right in his big skully face, which in hindsight was a mistake. I feel like they would have been better used to attack the right flank, butcher the dogs and burn that objective. But there was an opening in his lines, and I took it. With any luck, I could slice a few wounds off him! Besides, I didn't need to KILL the dogs. Just outnumber them. And I was confident the Plaguebearers were up for the task. They would have possibly done it too, but I bombed the charge roll against the dogs, meaning that I couldn't even attempt a sneaky pile in onto it. 

The Pusgoyles put a dent in Nagash, putting a handful of wounds through, but not enough to have any meaningful impact. 

On the left, I made a critical error. I pushed the Jabberslythe all the way up the board, rather than keeping him in the back pocket to threaten and deter the Zombie Dragon, as well as be another body to contest. Instead, he was left standing in the middle of nowhere, being no real danger to anyone. This left my objective dangerously exposed. 

As if to prove my point, my left flank completely collapsed in Tim's first turn. The Jabberslythe died a horrible death, Hexwraiths were summoned from the grave, and the Zombie Lord rolled hot and killed three Blight Kings, claiming the objective in the process. Festus knew what was about to happen. 

In the centre, the sheer magical might of Nagash could not be denied. He debuffed the Pusgoyles into the ground, and had hoped to cause major problems by Hand of Dusting one of the middle models, breaking coherency. Luckily for me, I picked the correct hand, much to his frustration. Arkhan then decided to join in the fight, while all the dogs moved to shield against the Plaguebearers. The Pusgoyles, while not killing anything, flat out refused to take damage, shrugging off enough wounds to wipe out the unit, leaving two alive when there realistically should have been none. Tim had made a critical error, however, as only Nagash was in range of the centre objective after the movement phase. If I won priority going into turn two, I could retreat from combat, fly over the heads of the Death lords, and burn it! A fool proof plan...

...Unless, of course, I got double turned. Nagash continued a terrifying trend of double casting almost all of his spells, but once again, I saved my Lord of Afflictions from Hand of Dust through sheer luck of the guess. This didn't change much, however. The Pusgoyles finally fell to Nagash's blade and Arkhan's staff. Festus was slaughtered, and the Zombie Dragon and Hexwraiths began their sweep behind my lines. And between the dogs and endless spells, my Plaguebearers were left with nowhere to go, and barely the ability to fight thanks to spells and Geminids.

With victory all but assured, Tim began to tighten the net. Dogs ran to within range of the GUO's objective and burnt it from underneath him, and he was left to ponder his fate, as Nagash advanced upon him to deliver the coup-de-grace. From this point onward, Tim was in it to rack up a huge kill point tally. I didn't think the Death army had too much killing power without Morghasts of Grimghasts, but boy, did Tim prove me wrong. I suffered horrific casualties, and bled huge chunks kill points to the end. 

What started out as a high-stakes gambling match from my side really did not end well. In hindsight, I made some critical errors, but it was an exceptionally fun game to end the weekend on. The bloodbath meant that we actually had a pretty relaxed game that didn't feel rushed, and we got a chance to wander around afterward and catch the tail end of everyone else's game.  

Finishing the weekend on 3 Major Wins and 2 Major Losses, my Sports, Painting and Kill Points put me at 13th overall out of 42 players, which I was thrilled with. My goal was to go at least 3-2, and I'd managed to hit that goal on day one. 

I think the biggest challenge at the event was, of course, the schedule. The rounds were only two and a half hours long, which, when you're playing 2500 points, just isn't enough. Fortunately, I wasn't affected as much as some people were. The games that I won were decisively strong victories, and the games that I lost, I got mauled in the first two turns. This is something that is being addressed next year, under the new TO's, however, and I will be attending the event again, for sure. 

Despite the time challenges, I had a great event, and thoroughly enjoyed all of my games, no matter how nail-biting some of them were. All five of my opponents had put a ton of effort into their armies, and it made for a great weekend of fun and dice-rolling. I got to drink good drink, eat good food, and meet a bunch of people who I've only ever known as a name on Facebook, so it was great to meet everyone. 

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#160: RCGT Game 4 Battle Report - Maggotkin of Nurgle Vs. Stormcast Eternals - Three Places of Arcane Power

After finishing the first day of the tournament on three major wins and a healthy pool of kill points, I knew I was going to have a tough run on day two up in the nosebleed section! And just as Lady Luck had favoured me in round one, taking on a Gautfyre in Total Commitment, so she had turned her back on me in round four, as I took on a Sacrosanct Chamber in Three Places of Arcane Power.

My opponent was fielding...

Stormcast Eternals from the mortal realm of Ghur:

Lord-Arcanum on Gryph-Charger (General, Staunch Defender, Gryph-Feather Charm, Wind Runner)
Lord Castellant
Lord Relictor
Knight Vexillor (Pennant of the Stormbringer)
Knight Incantor (Mindlock Staff)
Knight Incantor
10 Sequitors (Battleline)
10 Sequitors (Battleline)
5 Sequitors (Battleline)
5 Sequitors (Battleline)
10 Evocators
10 Evocators
Cleansing Phalanx (Warscroll Battalion)
Soulsnare Shackles (Endless Spell)

Straight away, I knew that I was in for a rough ride. One of the main weaknesses of my list was an almost complete lack of rend. And if there's one thing Stormcast do incredibly well, it's really good re-rollable armour saves! And with a huge amount of area terrain on the table, it was going to be a grind. Uh-Oh...

Deployment was a tricky one, as I had to decide early on how I wanted to play this. I knew that I didn't have enough in my army to contest all three, so decided to leave the right hand objective to the Stormcast, and instead focus all my attention on the left and centre objectives. 

Unfortunately for me, my opponent Adam outdropped me, and had a very decisive first turn. Between the Scions of the Storm, the Vexillor and some magnificent run rolls, he'd managed to get all three objectives locked down with multiple units, screening his wizards with Sequitors. All of his buffs went off pretty reliably, and thanks to Cleansing Phalanx, the Sequitors were re-rolling just about everything. It was at this point, very early on in the game, that I accepted that I'd lost. Having looked over the list the night before, and how all the rules interacted with each other, I knew I wasn't going to be killing a lot, and it was going to come down to who got onto objectives first and could hold out.

I knew that as soon as Adam got ahead on the scoreboard, I wasn't going to catch him, but I was determined to still give him a hard-fought game! The last thing I wanted to do was pack it in and deny him a full-length game purely because I was going to lose. So, in true Nurgley fashion, my army ground forward and started throwing punches. Both of us were playing for kill points from that point forward, as they were the secondary tie breakers at this event! 

 I launched an all-out assault on the left objective, with the Lord of Afflictions and Pusgoyles careening across the battlefield to try and kill the Arcanum and Incantor claiming the objective. The Jabberslythe slammed into the other end of the Sequitor unit, leaving many unable to fight. The ones that could fight didn't particularly want to either, as Jabberslythes have a habit of going 'POP!'. Being wholly within cover and Staunch Defender meant that nothing was dying in a hurry, but in return, the Pusgoyles proved their toughness by taking an immense amount of punishment for very little reward! Festus lurked nearby in hopes of stripping their armour saves off, but in the face of such arcane mastery, it was very difficult to get any of my spells off.

The centre was a much tougher situation to get to grips with. The Sequitors had zoned out the front of the terrain, making it all but impossible to even get within range of the objective with my GUO. He slammed into the front rank, being confident in his ability to shrug off most damage. This proved to be less reliable than I originally had planned, as the Greatmaces made their presence known and pummelled him for ten wounds! My second Jabberslythe went into his Evocators, and my eyes lit up! Their damage output is insane, and they were about to do a great deal of damage to themselves. The weapons inflicted six wounds, which bounced a couple of mortal wounds back. Then Adam wound up for the big zap, before I informed him that (at the time), you could suffer mortals from excess wounds inflicted on the Jabber. Luckily for him, the Celestial Lightning Arc is an ability, and not an attack profile, meaning he didn't have to use it if he didn't want to. In a very wise move, he chose to refrain from using it, and avoided any backlash from the damage.

From this point onward, it turned into an absolute bloodbath. The central Jabberslythe was cut down by the less valuable Sequitors, while the Evocators on the right flank left their objective in the capable hands of an Incantor, leaving them free to carve their way through the Blight Kings.

The brawl on the left was a real battle of attrition, where I just didn't seem to be able to bring down any of the heroes. On the last turn of the game (only turn three, mind you, as was a common theme with the clock being what it was), I was hoping for a priority win,which would have given me the opportunity to retreat with the wouned LoA and the one surviving Pusgoyle, conserving well over 600 kill points, but it wasn't to be. Before they could fly away, they were cut down by mace and spell.

This game ended in a crushing defeat on my part, but was still a really enjoyable game. My opponent was great to play against, and I felt like we had a very clean, concise game, both being very deliberate to declare intent and so on. I didn't really use my Plaguebearers at all in this game, which was a bit wasteful, but then there really wasn't a lot they would have done considering the scenario.

With three major wins, a major loss and two games played up on Table One, I was pretty happy with my performance so far. But the weekend wasn't over yet, and I dropped down to Table 3 to face off against yet another formidable opponent!

Thanks for reading,
Gabe

#159: RCGT Game Three - Maggotkin of Nurgle Vs. Kharadron Overlords 2500pts

Coming off the back of two big wins in my first round, I somehow found myself in unfamiliar territory.

Table One.

And I found myself facing down against my second Duardin horde of the day in the form of Ben's Kharadron Overlords!

Barak-Urbaz
Arkanaut Admiral (General, Doughty Champion, Ignax's Scales)
Aether-Khemist (Aethershock Earburster)
Aether-Khemist
Aetheric Navigator
10 Arkanaut Company (Battleline, Light Skyhooks)
10 Arkanaut Company (Battleline, Light Skyhooks)
10 Arkanaut Company (Battleline, Aethermatic Volley Guns)
10 Arkanaut Company (Battleline, Skypikes)
10 Grundstok Thunderers
9 Endrinriggers
40 Dwarf Warriors (Allies)
Arkanaut Frigate (The Last Word)
Arkanaut Frigate (Prudency Chutes)
Iron Sky Squadron (Warscroll Battalion)

The scenario was Shifting Objectives, which was totally alright by me! Playing down the length of the table, meant that my Plaguebearers could screen and tie up anything my opponent could throw at me, and that I didn't have anything in my backfield to sit on. I could push up my whole army and apply an immense amount of pressure. The matchup was also heavily in my favour, as Nurgle is not traditionally known for being vulnerable to shooting. With my Lord of Blights stocked up with command points, I was confident in making things difficult to kill for the pesky Duardin!

With that said, I've also played a grand total of one game against KO, and that was against a Zilfin Clown Car list, so I wasn't 100% sure of what everything was capable of. I knew Endrinriggers needed to die ASAP, and that I very outnumbered. For the third game in the day, it was going to take all my focus to make sure I didn't do anything silly. Nothing... silly...

With the scenarios being all about numbers on objectives, I was determined to give myself the best possible chance at success. My opponent chose to give me first turn, which I took gladly! Thanks to the Bell and a healthy run roll, I managed to push up onto all three objectives with my two Plaguebearer units and my Blight Kings on the right. My GUO waddled up behind the main line, conscious of the damage output the Arkanauts were capable of.

The Lord of Blights (who, with his whopping 21" range, was lurking deep in my deployment zone) dropped a Cloud of Flies on both Plaguebearer units, meaning that they would be -2 to hit in combat and -4 to hit in shooting. I was hyper aggressive with the Jabberslythes, so as to draw fire away from my important stuff, an the LoA & Friends sat just behind my frontline to react to threats. The frigate on my right was packed with Thunderers, Endrinriggers and heroes, and I knew that I needed a counterpunch ready for when all the Duardin spilled out, guns blazing.

I think my opponent made a mistake giving me first turn, as it allowed me to lay claim to all three objectives and get all my buffs up, but he wasn't about to lie down without a bloody fight! 

 In his second turn turn, he pushed forward with everything! Both ships disgorged their cargo. The Endrinriggers launched out of their ship, and butchered the Blight Kings in a truly horrifying display of combat prowess, where on the left flank, the Skypike Company piled out and fired their pistols harmlessly into the Plaguebearers. While the GUO took some damage from Skypikes, my army was othewise pretty unscathed. The Jabberslythes did their job, drawing a truly terrifying amount of fire and exploding with impunity so that my buff pieces and combat threats could live! Ben claimed the right objective with the Riggers, bringing the turn one score to 5-1 in my favour; a great start to things.

On the left, my opponent charged his frigate onto the objective, and didn't charge in with his Dwarf Warriors in the middle. The Frigate, having such a large base and no real combat threat, meant that the Duardin physically didn't have the space to outnumber me on that objective. The Warriors would not have killed many of the buffed up plaguebearers, but they would have outnumbered them significantly thanks to their smaller bases. As it were, I still held both. 

 A cheeky double turn from T2 to T3, not only allowed the Pusgoyles an opportunity to down a Frigate, killing some of the Thunderer's on board, but also gave them positioning to launch over the ruins and slay all the Riggers, which were my biggest combat threat! In my haste and state of exhaustion, I completely forgot to physically move the models when I piled in, leaving only two models in range of the objective. In a sheer stroke of luck, the Thunderers and Arkanauts threatening the right objective were just outside of 6", meaning that my mistake didn't cost me dearly, as the right objective had become the important one! Phew!

 Making sure that he wouldn't miss out on points, my opponent strolled forward with both the Company with Aethermatic Volley Guns and the Thunderers. With a little help from the Witherstave on the LoA lurking in the ruins, their barrage of firepower inflicted a single wound. It was no fault of my opponent; both of us were in a bit of disbelief as Lady Luck well and truly deserted him! In some consolation, he was able to move up with his Company to outnumber me and claim the objective.

At the end of Turn 3, the score was 14-4 in my favour. The schedule, which had been responsible for many players failing to get past turn three across the weekend,  reared its head most prominently in this game, as we didn't get a chance at turn four or five, but with a 10 point lead, I managed to land a third major win for the day.

I think this was a bit of a mixed bag for my opponent. On one hand, he drew against probably the most defensive, anti-shooting army at the event, which crippled his ability to touch the big blocks of infantry sitting on the objectives. This was probably the one army he didn't fancy fighting. On the other hand, I was on the edge of my seat the entire game, knowing full well that, at any point, he could charge in with his infantry, flood the objectives with his superior numbers, and be safe in the knowledge that Plaguebearers couldn't fight their way out of a soggy paper bag.

The Blightkings melted to the Endrinrigger assault, but my Pusgoyles were left relatively unscathed and unchecked to rampage their way across the board. Once again, Nurgle did what they do best, and that's getting onto objectives and refusing to die.

This left me on three major wins from three games, and cemented my spot at the high end of the scoreboard going into Day Two. But I knew my toughest games were ahead of me...

I'll be posting all about Day Two of the event soon, so keep an eye out!

Thanks for reading,
Gabe

#144: RCGT Game 2 - Maggotkin of Nurgle Vs. Dispossessed 2500pts - Focal Points

Coming off a big (and frankly, downright lucky) win in Game One, I really had no idea where I would land when it came to opponents. As it happened, I ended up facing Dion with his Dispossessed horde.

Allegiance: Order
Realm: Ghur

Warden King (General, Anraheir's Claw)
Runelord (Gryph-Feather Charm)
Runelord
Unforged
40 Warriors
30 Warriors
10 Warriors
30 Longbeards
20 Hammerers
20 Ironbreakers
10 Irondrakes
3 Skywardens
3 Skywardens
Grudgebound War Throng (Warscroll Battalion)

The first thing that stands out about this list is the sheer volume of models on the table. With 160+ models in his army, my biggest concern was that we just weren't going to get through our game. We had a really good discussion at the start of the game regarding time management and Dion assured me that he played fast with the army. To my delight, that's exactly what he did. He had movement trays for the larger units, he was decisive with his tactical decisions and he knew the warscrolls inside out; all key elements to playing a smooth and concise game with a horde army.

While I was having dreams about playing this list in Three Places of Arcane Power, which would have leaned heavily in my favour, the mission was Focal Points. With so many high-armour bodies, I was going to have to be quick on my feet!

Knowing full well that I was going to be outdropped, I went with my kneejerk reaction and hid everything behind a wall of Plaguebearers. In hindsight, this was probably a tad over-cautious, as the only thing in my opponent's army that could hit me early were the two flanking units of Skywardens. But the scenario is all about numbers, and I wanted those hard-to-shift bodies up front to flood objectives. My Lord of Afflictions with the Witherstave was nice and central, and the GUO was carefully placed so as to give both Plaguebearer units, the Blight Kings and the Pusgoyles extra movement from his Doomsday Bell. Festus parked on my bottom objective, knowing full well that his spell would be vital in getting through the resilient armour of the duardin. 

Unsurprisingly, my opponent took first turn in hopes of getting onto the objectives before me, but even with the first moves, their short little legs only just got them onto the central objective. At the top of the table, a unit of thirty warriors got onto the objective in the woods, while on the left side, Ironbreakers planted themselves on the objective at the foot of the hill, shielded by the Unforged and Hammerers, who got the available buff from the Runelord nearby. Irondrakes held up rear of his centre line, moving into a position to fire on anyone who got too close. Having taken next to no casualties in turn one, I struck back, and hard. With the exception of the Blight Kings, I pushed up with absolutely everything. The centre (cream-coloured) Plaguebearers, buffed by the Lord of Blights, lurched forward, intent on pushing bodies onto the central objective. My opponent had left a little too much space in front of him, and I was sure I could get Plaguebearers between him and the objective. 

The Pusgoyles had a similar idea. Launching around my right flank, and using the Gnarlmaw for some added speed, they circled the ruins and slammed into the exposed flank of the Warriors. The GUO had used his command ability on the Pusgoyles to give each profile an extra attack, and the Lord of Afflictions was close enough to give them re-roll 1s to hit. Caught between the anvil of -2 To Hit Plaguebearers and some very aggressive flies, the Warriors began to melt. I managed to kill enough to claim the objective, but there were still so... many... dwarfs. 

Seeing a golden opportunity, I launched the Jabberslythe over my army on my left side, and straight into the front of the Hammerers. In a stroke of perfect luck, the Jabberslythe survived on a single wound, meaning that they were still locked in combat with the horrifying monstrosity, but that it caused maximum damage with its Bile Blood. Nine Hammerers were dissolved inside their armour as a result of the damage they had inflicted. Perfect! 

Scoring the cheeky double turn going into turn two, I was keen to keep momentum in my favour. I utilised my very healthy Contagion Point bank to summon a second tree, as well as five Plaguebearers on my back objective, which left the Blight Kings free to go punch on with things. Thanks to the Bell and the tree, they raced across the open ground to hit the three Skywardens threatening my flank. With any luck, I was hoping to draw the Unforged and Hammerers away from my lines, and killing units that would have no real impact on the scoreboard. The Hammerers finally took the last wound off the Jabber, with minimal repercussions. 

At the top of the table, the Skywardens found themselves trapped in a combat that they had no hopes of winning, against a horde of Plaguebearers that, every time they took casualties, would grow them back with a cheeky one on the Battleshock test. Every... single... time...

The other Jabber, seeing what stellar success his comrade had had, decided to barrel toward the Dwarfs and fail a charge. But the real action was in the middle of the table. 

The Pusgoyles, not content with slicing and dicing Warriors, used a sly pile-in to drag the Warden King and Irondrakes into combat with them. With their lack of rend, the Blightlords all but ignored the Warden King, and instead divided their attacks between the Irondrakes and the surviving Warriors, inflicting horrific casualties on both! The scales of battle were tipping in my favour, as I solidified a lead on the scoreboard. 

In a "Just As Planned" moment, my opponent took the bait and sent the Hammerers and Unforged after my Blight Kings. While the Unforged's little legs couldn't quite make the charge he needed, the Hammerers went in and delivered some grudge-settling, splatting Kings left and right, leaving one alive on two wounds. Before they died, though, they did manage to dent the Skywardens. But with them now dead, and the Plaguebearers otherwise indisposed, my back objective was looking awfully weak, and if my opponent could claim it, even for a turn, I was going to be in a real pickle. 

But I had one more trick up my sleeve. My Great Unclean One and Festus managed to draw out both unbind attempts from the Runelords with obviously potent spells, like Curse of the Leper. After successfully shutting them down, Dion found himself in a real spot of bother when the GUO cast Soulsnare shackles with no opposition. The impact was crippling, slowing all the threats to a snail's pace, as well as dishing out some sneaky mortal wounds here and there. 

At the top of the table, things were not going well for my opponent either. Having absolutely butchered their way through a full unit of Warriors and the Irondrakes, the Pusgoyles continued their path of destruction north, tagging another unit of Warriors in tandem with the Jabberslythe. This also pinned the Duardin between two units, stopping them from maximising their output thanks to awkward pile-ins in two different directions. 

As time on the clock ran out, it was apparent to both of us that I'd managed to take a commanding scoreboard lead, and that my position on the battlefield was firm. I'd managed to land another major win, and actually get a sizeable chunk of kill points out of it too! 

The game as a whole was great! We had a few laughs, and I was pleased with how fast my opponent played, considering the army. I think he was a little bit stand-offish with a few of his backline units. You can see in the photo that there was a whole unit in the backfield that never really entered the conflict. I think they would have been well used to either reinforce the top objective or push on the centre if only for a turn to take the objective out of my hands. Once my Plaguebearers got onto that centre objective, I made them as difficult as possible to shift, with their Locus, Witherstave and the Lord of Blights all contributing to their tenacious manner. 

I think baiting the Hammerers away with the Blight Kings saved Festus and his objective, as there would have been little I could do to stop him from getting his bloated head caved in. And I think the Pusgoyles had a dream game, just butchering whatever came within arms reach! They ended up killing 700 points worth of my opponent's army, practically on their own. Standout unit of the game. 

All in all, the army did what it was designed to do. Get onto objectives and never leave. But being on two major wins now, with both offering up plenty of kill points, I found myself going into round three on Table One!

Check in for game three soon! 

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#142: RCGT Game 1 - Maggotkin of Nurgle Vs Clan Skryre 2500pts

The day had finally come. My army was fully based and mostly painted. I hadn't left anything at home.

I was starting the day on the right foot.

The night before, the Round One matchups had been announced, and I was facing down against Jemma and her Gautfyre/Arkspark Skryre list.

Clan Skryre Allegiance:

Arch Warlock (General, Cunning Creature)
Warlock Engineer (Vigordust Injector)
Warlock Engineer
6 Stormfiends (3 Warpfire Projectors, 3 Shock Gauntlets)
3 Stormfiends (3 Warpfire Projectors)
3 Stormfiends (3 Warpfire Projectors)
2 Warp Grinder Teams
2 Warpfire Thrower Teams
5 Skryre Acolytes
20 Clanrats
Warp Lightning Cannon
Clan Skryre (Warscroll Battalion)
Arkhspark Voltik (Warscroll Battalion)
Gautfyre Skorch (Warscroll Battalion)
Balewind Vortex (Endless Spell)

With the sheer mortal wound output, and her ability to completely bypass my To Hit debuffs, I was genuinely concerned going into this matchup. She had the killing power to just bulldoze straight past my Resilient saves and kill whatever I didn't zone out. I'd laid my army out on a table to see what was going to be the best way to deploy, and basically arrived at the conclusion that, to save my heroes and important elements, both units of Plaguebearers would be taking a punching turn one.

Gritting my teeth and preparing for the worst, I arrived at the event and prepared for my first game. And the scenario was Total Commitment!

This was the single best possible scenario for me, as Jemma was forced to drop her entire army on the board, meaning there would be no pop-up Stormfiends melting my face off. Instead, they would have to march across the board to get to me. I was confident that I had the speed to decide which of her units could even target things to a degree, and so my deployment looked very different to what I thought it would have to be.

 I deployed my army in two very distinct halves. With my opponent outdropping my by a long way, being a three-drop, I had the luxury of laying my army out to best benefit my game plan. My left side was my "offence side" complete with the Gnarlmaw, with the big unit of Pusgoyles, as well as the Great Unclean One and Lord of Afflictions to support them with command abilities, artefacts and spells. One of my units of thirty Plaguebearers also took up residence on the small pyramid in order to lock down my home objective.

My right objective was my "defence side", with the other unit of thirty Plaguebearers being backed up by the Lord of Blights, Festus and the Blight Kings. My two Jabberslythes took up residence in the centre of the board, so as to be of support to whichever side needed it most. Jemma deployed very centrally with most of her army, leaving Acolytes on my left side and Clanrats on my right. Her centre was VERY solid, but there weren't any objectives in the centre, so hopefully I could make the most of the space on each flank...

My opponent had given me first turn, as taking the first turn would have left her relatively short-ranged army with nothing to do. I wasted no time in seizing the opportunity to put some points on the board. I spent one of my command points on Spearhead of Contagion to launch the Pusgoyles across the table and massacre the five poor Acolytes cowering behind the stone blocks. I also cast Mystic Shield on them, but didn't bother with the Great Unclean One's command ability, as I was pretty confident that they didn't need the extra attacks just yet. The Lord of Blights did put Cloud of Flies on his unit of Plaguebearers though, who pushed up a little. This just gave me another sturdy barrier between my opponent's army and the objective. The two Jabberslythes pushed up the centre, staying just outside of Warpfire range, and making sure to put terrain between them and the Warp Lightning Cannon.  In a shock to no-one, the Pusgoyles butchered the Acolytes and claimed the objective for Nurgle, pushing me into a good position on the scoreboard. 

Retaliation was swift, as the nearby unit of Stormfiends turned their flamers on my Pusgoyles, before charging in to punch me! When the dust settled, two flies had been incinerated, and thanks to the two Warp Grinder Teams, the Skaven had clawed back the objective. For now...

On the other side of the board, things were beginning to get ugly. The unit of six Stormfiends barrelled into my lines, and then realised that my To Hit modifiers were able to pretty much shut down the damage potential of the Shock Gauntlets. Two Stormfiends did manage to punch the Jabberslythe to death, which resulted in nine mortal wounds bouncing back at them, killing one of the Warpfire Fiends. All things considered, I didn't think it was going too bad!

After having lost my second Jabber to magic and shooting, I was keen to keep momentum going in my favour. Skryre is one of those armies where, if you present them with the smallest opportunity, they can swing the entire game on its head! With that in mind, I launched my whole left flank foward, using the Gnarlmaw and the Great Unclean One's bell to make sure my Plaguebearers pushed right up onto the objective. I made the decision to charge the Warpfire Fiends on the objective with my Plaguebearers, as it would prevent them from shooting my Lord of Afflictions, but I kept him nearby for that Witherstave aura! The GUO hung back and waddled over to my objective in case push came to shove, and I needed to summon something to hold down my backline. My remaining Pusgoyles, got the hell out of dodge, and retreated toward the handful of heroes and war machine at the back of the board. In my opponent's turn, one Blightlord was shot to pieces, while the other was crippled on only two wounds, but he didn't have a degrading profile, and I was confident he could kill the squishy support pieces on his own. The kill didn't come cheap, however. In their haste to kill the flies, the Warp Lightning Cannon overloaded its reactor, and blew itself to smithereens in a single stroke of bad luck on the Skaven's part. Excellent. 

Much to my surprise, a plucky Engineer decided enough was enough, and charged in. What was an Engineer going to do in combat, I thought. Well, as it turned out, he pushed through just enough wounds to finish off the Pusgoyle unit, saving himself and his fellow wizards from a messy death. 

Things on the other side of the board were getting very messy very fast! The two Warpfire Throwers and the Engineer managed to inflict enough mortal wounds to drop the Plaguebearers below 20 before the combat phase, which meant that the Shock Gauntlets were unhindered by debuffs, and their crackling fists went to work, obliterating Plaguebearers en masse. With only a handful remaining, my objective was starting to look a little exposed. 

That was, until I spent a metric ton of Contagion Points to summon 20 Plaguebearers on again to cover my objective in bodies. The remaining Stormfiends charged once more into the fray killing Plaguebearers in droves, but this time, they were faced with the combat prowess of Blight Kings and the Lord of Blights, and were finally cut down, bagging me a sizeable chunk of kill points. 

On Jemma's backline, I'd managed to cause her no end of troubles with the Plaguebearers pinning down the Stormfiends, the Witherstave preventing them from building any momentum in combat, and both Warp Grinder Teams falling to the Lord of Affliction's Festerpike! With a measly four Plaguebearers left in the unit, it was still enough to stop her from claiming the objective back, and I won the game with a solid lead on the scoreboard! 

I got supremely lucky in this game. If it were any other scenario, I would have been in a real spot of bother, but luckily for me, all my little ducks lined up in a row, and the matchup and scenario played very heavily in my favour. Jemma was a stellar opponent, and is always a delight to play. We're now 1-1 after my pummelling at BrisCon, so we'll see how this friendly rivalry plays out! 

With a major win, and a healthy chunk of kill points, I was moving up through the tables! 

Until next game, thanks for reading,

Gabe