Today, I played Warhammer for the first time in a long time. I got my 1000 point Nurgle Warriors of Chaos army almost fully assembled, and I faced off against a my friend and his High Elves (also mostly assembled).

On one front I won: painting. I had one fully painted model to his none. Woot!

In the areas that matter, though, the game tipped in his favor. It ended up a minor victory in favor of the High Elves, although an extra turn or two would have swung the pendulum back in my favor.

Game Summary

I was playing the Nurgle Chaos list that I posted earlier in the week. Level 2 sorcerer, Warriors, Knights, 2 units of Marauder Horsemen, and some dogs.

My opponent was fielding a hero, a unit of Dragon Princes, a small unit of swordmasters, a unit of archers, a block of spearmen, a unit of sea guard, an eagle, and a bolt thrower.

In hindsight, my biggest mistake was in deploying. I placed my Knights and Warriors together on one side of the board, partially shielded by trees and screened by the dogs. My opponent was able to drop an Eagle behind them and march block for two turns until the Marauder Horsemen killed the Eagle.

That slowed me down a lot and kept the Knights and Warriors out of combat for most of the game.

The dogs were instantly mowed down in shooting, and one unit of Marauder Horsemen was quickly killed as well. The bolt thrower had some success whittling down my Knights – 2 of the 5 were dead when the got across the board – but they and the Warriors fared the arrow storm pretty well.

I was looking forward to some magic supremacy, since I had a level two and my opponent had no wizard. I managed to pick Plague Squall for one of my spells, and although I successfully cast it five turns in a row, I only hit an enemy unit once. The scatter die was not my friend! I guessed perfectly at a large block of troops each time, and the shot scattered 8+ inches in the wrong direction. /sigh.

My Knights eventually made it into combat on the fourth turn. They decimated the unit of archers and over-ran off the board. They re-entered the next turn, turned towards the Bolt Thrower, and proceeded to make mince meat of the crew. Unfortunately, the game was over before they could engage any of the other units.

The Warriors were bogged down for most of the game, and they only made it into combat on turn six. They charged the unit of Spearmen, and all those pointy attacks bounced off my armor. Unfortunately, my Sorceror got killed in a challenge (High Elves always attacking first is so not cool) and I had lost a rank due to shooting. I lost combat by a couple points but held my ground. The next turn, they took a hit to the flank by the Dragon Princes, sustained almost no casualties, and managed to wipe out my opponent’s hero before the game ended.

What Went Well?

Combat. With the exception of my Chaos Sorceror, my units did splendid in combat. The Knights and the Warriors both held up their ends of the bargain. I think I’ll spread them out a bit more next time, and just march them up the middle. I tried to gather some cover from trees, but this – along with the damn eagle – kept me out of combat.

Fast Cavalry. I love them. They are awesome. I deployed a unit to watch my Warriors, and they quickly chopped up the Eagle. They quickly got into position to harass and march block the enemy – if only they had a unit to support, they would have been more effective.

What Didn’t?

Magic. I was attracted to the instant gratification of the Plague Squall, but I was disappointed with the bad scatters. I also rolled Curse of the Leper, but I never cast it. I’m thinking that was a mistake. Since my opponent had no dispel dice, there was a decent chance that it would remain in play for a couple turns and wipe out an entire unit. Oh well.

Surviving Shooting. My unarmored units went splat. Perhaps that’s to be expected, but I think they would be more effective if the big armored units were marching straight down the pike. By trying to finesse the Warriors and Knights around some woods, I gave my opponent no choice but to chop up everything and then turn to the Warriors last. Time is important, so next time it’s right up the middle.

The Sorceror. In combat, that is. He got his ass handed to him. I’m going to reconsider what I give him as far as magic items, and I might pull him out of the unit to ride around on a horse.

I was a bit rusty this game, to be sure, and hopefully I’ll do better next time. In the meantime, I’ve got some painting to do!