Great Unclean One (General, Bell/Flail, Grandfather's Blessing, Endless Gift, Glorious Afflictions)
10 Plaguebearers (Battleline)
10 Plaguebearers (Battleline)
6 Plague Drones
Soulsnare Shackles (Endless Spell)
This sat me at 1000 points on the dot. I would have preferred to run 20-man Marauder units instead of the Plaguebearers, but I simply didn't have them painted and ready for the event. The GUO and Drones is a pretty staple combination in the army, allowing them to dish out a ton of hits with a huge threat range!
But the real utility in the army comes from the fusion of the Glorious Afflictions spell ( the target's move characteristic and run and charge rolls are halved, and the target unit cannot fly) with its 21" range, and Soulsnare Shackles, which cripples movement once again. The idea behind this was as an answer to such craziness as Stardrakes, Witch Aelf hordes and Bloodletter Bombs. These two spells would allow me to essentially shut a unit down, and put it in a position where it had little to no impact on the game until I was good and ready to deal with it. But you know what they say about the best laid plans.
But I digress...
After arriving in Toowoomba, consuming enough coffee to jumpstart my brain, and shaking a few hands, it was time for round one. I found myself facing off against a gentleman by the name of Gary, with his Legion of Night army.
Mannfred (General)
20 Skeleton Warriors
5 Dire Wolves
5 Dire Wolves
Terrorgheist
The scenario was Shifting Objectives, which meant we were both going to have to be on our toes to come out on top. My deployment was pretty standard, with my tree on the centre lane, and a unit directly opposite each objective. In hindsight, I think the tree was positioned poorly, and clogged up the Drone's lane, but what's done was done. We rolled to see which objective was the "big" one, and the right objective was the priority. I took first turn, and basically pushed my whole army onto the centreline. The Bell and good run rolls meant that I got where I needed to be, and scored maximum points as a result. I made the mistake of holding back with my Drones, instead of pitching into the Skeleton horde, and pinning my opponents numbers far from the objectives.
The skeletons poured into the Drones, managing to flood the objective with bodies, and claw away ownership. On the left, I was confident that the five Dire Wolves wouldn't be able to grind down the Plaguebearers, but on the right, where the objective was worth three points, Mannfred committed his considerable weight to the conflict and smashed the Plaguebearers into oblivion, firmly claiming the area for Death. His Terrorgheist also showed up on my backline, and screamed at the GUO, who had taken a wound from Manny's magical barrage. Fortunately, his high Bravery stopped the scream from having any impact, and the Terrorgheist failed the 9" charge. What my opponent HAD managed to do was catch me on the back foot, and completely shut down my Contagion Point generation. Uh-Oh...
The main objective shifted to the middle one (not the left as I had hoped), and my opponent got the double on me. The Terrorgheist attempted to make life difficult for the GUO, starting to put some serious hurt on him (which he was able to almost completely heal back at every possible chance). But the real problems were just beginning in the middle of the table. Mannfred, having dispatched the Plaguebearers, turned his attention to the Drones, cutting down three and crippling a fourth with the help of some furious Skeletons. All I could do was hope that the Drones would stay alive long enough to grind down the Skeletons. I threw the Shackles over near Mannfred, and while they failed to have any effect on Manny or the Skeletons, they did do two mortal wounds to the drones. Just perfect...
At this point, the game was getting tight! We were both just on the edge of our seats, knowing full well, that things were on a knifes edge. I had spent the first two turns on the ropes, getting pummelled, but momentum began to shift back toward Nurgle. The GUO managed to not only dispatch the Terrorgheist, but also send a Plague Wind through the Drones and into the Skeletons, healing and killing as it blew. The Plaguebearers on the left lost a single model to the dogs, rolled a 1 for Battleshock, and replenished their numbers to solidify their position on that objective. And the Drones, with added attacks from the GUO's Command Ability, finally ground down the last of the Skeletons.
What really put the nail in my opponent's coffin (pun fully intended) was the main objective swinging back to it's original position on the right flank. With the Skeletons depleted, and Mannfred having taken a few wounds over the course of the battle, despite his armour and healing, I decided it was time to make my big play for victory. The last remaining Drone (they really took a beating) was unaffected by the shackles this turn, and retreated over the top of Manny and onto the objective, claiming it away from Death. The Plaguebearers on the left objective finally put their plagueswords to the last undead dog, and the GUO, who had healed back every single point of damage suffered earlier in the battle, took the fight to Mannfred, punching the Mortarch of Night until his army and vampiric healing could save him no longer!
The game ended with a firm victory for the minions of Nurgle, but it was far from a sure thing until the dying moments of the game! The battle swung back and forth many times, with every dice roll being vital to winning or losing. Gary was a fantastic opponent, and he won my Best Sport vote!
Having only lost 120 points in the Plaguebearers, and killing 940 points worth of my opponent's army (one pesky unit of dogs escaped my clutches!), I found myself sitting on the top tables, unsure of what new terrors I would face next... The kill points from this game in no way reflected just how ridiculously close this game was!
Thanks for reading, and check back in soon for game two!
Gabe
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