#165: CanCon Game 3 Battle Report - Beasts of Chaos Vs. Maggotkin of Nurgle

So, going into Game Three, I was sitting on a major win and a major loss. The world was still my oyster, and depending on how my third game went, I could still set myself up for a good final placing.

At the same time, taking a loss had changed my approach to games, as I knew I wasn't playing for sheep stations. This let me relax a bit and really enjoy my next four games.

Now, I must apologise to my opponent, because I was well and truly spent going into my third game. Between the heat and hours of concentration, I was beginning to fade. Knowing this, I was hoping for a pretty straight forward game, win or lose.

And, well... This is what I came up against.

Allegiance: Nurgle
Mortal Realm: Ghyran

Leaders
Lord of Afflictions (220) - General - Trait: Avalanche of Rotten Flesh - Artefact: Rustfang
The Glottkin (420)
Harbinger of Decay (160)
Festus the Leechlord (140)

Units
40 x Chaos Marauders (200) - Axes & Shields - Tribal Banner - Damned Icon - Mark of Nurgle
40 x Chaos Marauders (200) - Axes & Shields - Tribal Banner - Damned Icon - Mark of Nurgle
20 x Chaos Marauders (120) - Axes & Shields - Tribal Banner - Damned Icon - Mark of Nurgle
6 x Plague Drones (400)

Endless Spells
Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (40)

Total: 1900 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 0 / 400

I had serious concerns as soon as I saw the list. My opponent, Dalton, could match me on bodies, and while he didn't have the raw killing power that I did, he certainly had the staying power and endurance to turn the game into a war of attrition. And a war of attrition is something Beasts of Chaos want no part of.

My mind was somewhat put at ease, however, when my opponent cracked about six dad jokes in the first five minutes of our game. So, I knew that it was going to be a fun game, no matter what. This was good because high-model-count attrition armies can easily lean toward a somewhat uninteractive experience. But my opponent made it pretty clear from the start that he was there for a good time, and that's exactly what we had.

The Scenario was Border War, which I was indifferent about. On one hand, Dalton could flood the middle of the board with incredibly durable units, and they would be very difficult to shift. On the other hand, he would have to come to me in order to compete on the scenario. I knew I had a task before me, but knowing that his army became a lot more durable after having a hero phase, I took first turn, threw caution to the wind and launched into action.

I was seriously second guessing myself on whether to move up and screen onto the objectives, or to launch across the board and try to rack up the kill count on Marauders early on to give myself a numbers advantage. Thanks to a gung-ho attitude, and judgement clouded by exhaustion, I charged.

The Bestigor went in and started swinging. Unfortunately for me, Glottkin's aura dropped their To Hit roll, and I didn't do nearly enough damage. I'd managed to hack my way through a fair chunk of them, but I knew the counter punch was going to hurt. On the bright side, I took both middle objectives and started posting some healthy numbers.

In response to the initial onslaught, Dalton pulled out all the stops to deliver some devastating blows. Thanks to a hole I had cut in the Marauders, the six Plague Drones had enough space to charge into the back of my Bestigor. And while they didn't have much in the way of Rend, they did have an avalanche of attacks, and the magical support of Festus, who made sure that armour corroded almost as fast as it was pierced. After battleshock, a single Bestigor stood boldy (boldly? Is that what we're calling it?) against the stinking masses. 

On the other side of the table, my Shaggoth was hacking his way through the other unit of forty Marauders, while my second unit of Bestigor attacked the other end. But no matter how hard I tried, he seemed to outnumber me on every objective. Scoring all four objectives for two back to back turns really put the nails in the coffin for me. 

In a last hurrah, my Doombull charged in and hacked the Lord of Afflictions to pieces, but by then it was too late. Dalton had outplayed and outmanoeuvred me. He pulled casualties out of the perfect places and piled in with precision, earning him a well-deserved major win. 

I think Dalton probably had this game from the start. Had I been a bit more cagey, I probably could have stayed in the game a little longer, but I just couldn't get through the bodies. The Harbinger of Decay was vital to keeping his horde alive, and it was a small mercy that the Glottkin failed every attempt of Fleshy Abundance. As it was, I felt like a lot of my units died cheaply, going down without killing much in return. That said, I played Nurgle for quite some time and that's exactly how they win games. 

Get onto the objectives.

Don't die. 

Dalton was a legend to play, and I couldn't fault his sportsmanship or gameplay.

This left me on one major win and two major losses, which wasn't where I wanted to be. My goal was to at least break even with wins and losses, and that was not looking good at this point. I was going to have to pull out something special on the Sunday to salvage some glory! 

Check in soon to find out ;)

Thanks for reading, 

Gabe