Empire vs Nurgle Daemons

Empire (Me) Vs Chaos Daemons (Eric)

Game Size: 500 points

Scenario: Mountain Pass

Restrictions: No Level 4 casters, No Magic Items

Edition: Warhammer The Old World 1.0

Month and Year: Apr 2024

Event: Escalation League at Mighty Meeple

With the prior game being not particularly competitive Eric and I re-racked for a second game - I think he had to drive a while out on a weekday so it would certainly suck to drive an hour, play a game over two hours and then drive back home with not that competitive of a game.  This time we ended up playing Mountain Pass. 

Same lists as the prior game.

Eric went with a Nurgle Daemons list:

A couple closeups of our minis are shown below.

Deployment

Mountain Pass is an interesting scenario in that it is plays along the narrow rather than the long side of the table.  This scenario limits to usefulness of fast maneuver elements and gives a slight advantage to more elite armies.  Additionally unlike the last game all units start the table at the same time.  At 500 points this is not a big deal because we barely have enough units to cover the length of the table but at higher point values it has a very different tatical feel.  Tragically I took the pictures for this game in a horrible haphazard way and some are landscape vs portrait - I've tried to the fix orientation but some of the pictures may look rotated.

On my left (top) I have deployed Outriders, Free Complany on Hill, Halberdiers in the center line with characters and my Knights on my right flank.  Opposing me Eric has deployed Furies on the Hill on my left flank and places his Plague bearer blocks in the center of the board.

The Game

Turn One

I took WAY less pictures this game . . . and I often find that is the case for the second or third game I play in a session - I get a bit caught up in making the game play fast and forget to take pictures.  So this battle report will be a bit light on the pictures.  During the first turn Eric moved his furies up into my flank while my army edged forward. to meet his main force which held their relative position.

At the bottom of turn one . . . a much more balanced game than our last game - Eric has all his units on the table!

Turn Two

The Daemonquell riders (Outriders) would once again shoot at Plague Bearers this game and kill three with their first volley.  The Infantry blocks moved up slightly while the Knights failed their charge due to failing their fear test of the Plague Bearers.  In retrospect, this was actually a mistake as the Knights had the same unit strength of the Plague bearers and should have been able to charge without testing (not that big of a deal though).

The Furies would flank charge my Free Company detachment who fled - due to the mountain pass mission they fled out of the pass leaving the flank of the parent unit, the Halberdiers, available to be charged.  Let me tell you Furies are MEAN.  Furious Charge is a great ability and allowed them to pour 10 attacks into the flank of Halberdiers - killing all available opponents who could fight back, disrupting the formation and causing the Halberdiers to give ground.

Furies in the flank . . . this can't be that bad can it?

Middle and Late Game - From Memory Without Pictures

After two round of fighting the Halberdiers the Furies would peel off and eventually destroy my Outrider unit - however the Outrider unit was able to kill their third unit of Daemons on the day (2x in the previous game) by managing to shoot down the Plague Bearer unit on my left flank (pictured below near top) as the combat between the Halberdiers and Furies raged on.

The fleeing Free Company would never make it back into the fight as I stupidly never paid the points to upgrade to a militia leader (who would have given them 7 leadership) which meant they needed to pass a Leadership 6 rally test - they would not be able to do so this game.

On the other flank my Knights would subsequently pass their fear check - charge and destory the one unit of Plague Bearers on my right flank (right side of picture below) while the Halberdier block would fight the lone Herald and destroy him through combat resolution.  

With only his Furies left on the table we would eventually close out five turns with the Halberdiers and Knights still on the board also.

Things continue to look grim for the Daemons with the Herald/General almost dead and a unit of Plague bearers down.

End Game Summary and Lessons Learned

Overall this was a much closer game, probably due to Eric having his whole army available from Turn One.  Here are some takeaways I had from the game.

Men of the Match

OUTRIDERS!  The Daemonquell Riders would continue living up to their namesake with their second game in a row of destroying an enemy unit.

Final Tally