WoffBoot XII: Nurgle Daemons vs Thousand Sons

One victory, one loss, but now the match I was really dreading.

Time to slay some daemons!


I have a long and proud tradition of losing to Kasfunatu at the WoffBoot (the last time I beat him was 2012) and he wasn't pulling any punches this time around: a Great Unclean One, a Daemon Prince, a massive blob of Plaguebearers, buffed with two characters - there would be no easy kills there. Even the Nurgling swarms would be tough going with 16 wounds and essentially a 5+ rerollable invulnerable save.

I've also switched tables, and am now playing on the one with the massive castle on a hill right in the centre. It was, by popular acclaim, the best bit of scenery in the tournament, but it's no good when you're counting on firepower to whittle down a purely-melee army.

The Tumultuous Creed: Thousand Sons

• Exalted Sorcerer, Force Stave, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Frag & Krak Grenades
  Warlord: High Magister
  Relic: Helm of the Third Eye
  Prescience, Death Hex, Smite
• Daemon Prince with wings, 2 x Malefic Talons
  Gaze of Fate, Warptime, Smite
• 6 x Rubric Marines, Force Stave, Warpflame Pistol, Inferno Boltguns
  Weaver of Fates
• 10 x Tzaangor, Tzaangor Blades, Brayhorn 
• 10 x Chaos Cultists, Shotgun, Autoguns, Heavy Stubber
• 5 x Scarab Occult Terminators Force Stave, Inferno Combi-Bolters, Power Swords, Soulreaper Cannon, Hellfyre Missile Rack
  Glamour of Tzeentch
• Defiler, Battle Cannon, Twin Lascannon, Defiler Scourge, Defiler Claws, Combi-bolter

Points: 1000 | Battalion: 6 CPs

Nice And Oozy Does It: Chaos Daemons of Nurgle

• Great Unclean One, Plague flail, Attendant's claws and teeth
  Fleshy Abundance, Stream of Corruption
  Warlord: Impenetrable Hide
  Relic: Bilesword
• Daemon Prince with wings, 2 x Malefic Talons
  Virulent Blessing
• Poxbringer, Balesword,
  Miasma of Pestilence
• Spoilpox Scrivener, Corruption, Disgusting sneezes, Distended maw
• 25 x Plaguebearers, Plaguesword, Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos
• 4 x Nurglings,  Diseased claws and teeth
• 4 x Nurglings, Diseased claws and teeth

Points: 994 | Battalion + Auxiliary Support Detachment: 5 CPs

Game 3: Spoils of War

I'm already on the back foot here: Kasfunatu picked the Hammer & Anvil deployment and made sure he was on the end in easy reach of three objective markers. The then deployed a Nurgling swarm on top of a fourth. In a scenario where we can steal each other's seize objective cards, that could result in critical board control.

Continuing that theme, he spread his Plaguebearer horde over most of his backline, denying me a place to deepstrike and keeping a diseased toe on two objectives, then put his second swarm of Nurglings on another one, where I could barely see then, much less dislodge them. The boldest move was to blow almost all of his command points to put both Great Unclean One and Greater Daemon into the warp.

(interestingly, my Helm of the Third Eye only allows me to take Command Points when my model is on the table - and my Exalted Sorcerer hadn't been deployed when Kasfunatu spent his first two, but luckily I got one back when he was there for the second stratagem - the first time in a dozen rolls I'd managed a 5+)

By comparison, my deployment was quite tame: Terminators and Tzaangor into deepstrike, Rubrics and Cultists in the front line, Defiler on the backfield, trying to get as clear a line of fire as he could.

I do manage to get the first turn, which is a bonus even if I don't have much to do in it. I draw a seize objective card that Kasfunatu is sitting on, so I'm already down on points, and decide not to try anything too bold.

I send my infantry forward, just to try a few potshots at the Plaguebearers, and resolve to try and wipe out the foremost swarm of Nurglings, so I can at least free up one objective, or maybe get First Blood.

I enjoy a productive Psychic phase (one of many) then my entire line only blasts away one base of Nurglings. Abandoning previous caution, I send in my Daemon Prince to deal with them. He makes his charge easily, but though his claws scythe through them, even he can't wipe out the whole unit of those resilient buggers.

That's the end of my turn, and I'm now feeling that I've left one of my big hitters a weeny bit exposed.



Despite having good control of the board, Kasfunatu doesn't draw any of the relevant tactical cards. He goes bold in the movement phase: dropping in both his Daemon Prince and Great Unclean One to box in my own Daemon Prince.

I hold him off in the Psychic phase (my psyker rolls in this game were obscenely above-average) and with minimal shooting, we're off to the assaults.

Thankfully, the Great Unclean One fails his charge, so we're set for a Daemon Prince (Nurgle) vs Daemon Prince (Tzeentch) ... with a few Nurglings cheering from the sidelines.



In the clash of rival gods, it turns out to be honours even - between my superior invulnerable save and his disgusting resilience, neither deamon can slay the other and we each deal four wounds.



Breathing a sigh of relief, I flap my Daemon Prince out of combat as soon as I can, then let forth with another stellar round of psychic powers - the crucial one being the invulnerable-denying Death Hex (fighting daemons was the whole reason I brought this spell).

With my gunline buffed and the Daemon Prince of Nurgle weakened, I open up with all my guns and take out my opposite number. It takes everything I have to bring down the Daemon Prince's last four wounds - I don't even have enough dakka to pick off the last Nurglings.

I've yet to get any kind of start in the victory points (high command keeps telling me to go upfield and take objectives off the Plaguebearers), but that scores me First Blood, and a not-too happy Kasfunatu.



In his second turn, the Plaguebearers keep their backline formation (I have no current idea how to shift them) and sends forward the Great Unclean One, heading for my wounded Deamon Prince. In the psychic phase, I lose a couple of Cultists to Stream of Corruption, but manage to deny his Smite.

It's the assault phase where my luck really holds up - the Great Unclean One fails his charge again, and Kasfunatu is all out of command points. That buys me another turn, and whatever the cards say, my job is clear.



It's my third turn, so I have to deploy my deepstrikers. The Terminators go on top of the castle, which seems a nice vantage point for their infernal stormbolters. The Tzaangor get as close as they can to the Great Unclean One (which is still at extreme charge range, because those damn Nurglings are still on the objective).

But the real movement is the Defiler, who scuttles forward to face off against the greater daemon. Kasfunatu is rightly worried about me casting Death Hex on his big asset, which effectively leaves me with a free hand to cast everything else to buff the Defiler: Prescience, Weaver of Fate - I even throw in Warptime to ensure I can't fail the charge. And when it comes to the only roll I wanted - I get a miserable fail for Death Hex. I contemplate using a re-roll, but the result was so bad, I reckon I'll need it to survive combat.

The shooting works out pretty well. As predicted, everything and everyone shoots the Great Unclean One, knocking it down a couple of wounds (even the Exalted Sorcerer took off one with his bolt pistol). And then it's off to the assault - and as fate would have it, my Defiler rolls terribly for his charge. It turns out that Warptime was the critical power to cast after all, because I wouldn't be in combat without it.

Things continue my way when the Tzaangor roll just high enough to multi-charge the Nurglings, and then have enough for half their number to pile into the Great Unclean One. After their assassination success against the Neurothrope, they're clearly getting ambitious.

Combat is punctuated by gasps of horror from Kasfunatu as he realises that, though a Defiler may resemble the daemons' Soulgrinder, it's a lot more formidable in close-combat, especially when buffed with spells and Daemonforged stratagems. The wounds start spilling out of the Great Unclean One, and when the Tzaangor take a turn, he's only got a few left.

(it's just occurred to me that the same situation happened in our Age of Sigmar game last WoffBoot - when a flock of Tzaangor just needed to pip a few wounds off his unkillable behemoth, but failed to do so)

I'm readying my stratagem that allows Tzaangor to fight all over again, but there's no need - they chop down the last few wounds and the Great Unclean One falls in a pestilential heap. That stubborn base of Nurglings is also stomped into the ground, and with Slay the Warlord, I have what appears to be an unassailable advantage in the game.

(current kill tally: Great Unclean One, Daemon Prince, four Nurgling Swarms vs one Cultist)



Sportingly, Kasfunatu keeps his gloves up and continues the fight, though he's lost much of his mobile elements, there's not much to do but consolidate the Plaguebearers around the central objective and hope to clock up some victory points that the cards just aren't providing.



I'm still overly-cautious in my fourth turn, as I can scarcely believe my luck (it's usually at this stage I find a way to blow up my spellcaster). Nonetheless, the entire line advances around the central hill, led by the Tzaangor and Defiler, with supporting fire coming from the Terminators and Rubrics.

A good thing about the mass of Plaguebearers is that they're impossible to hide, and I shoot them to pieces before charging in to tear up the rest of them, losing a couple of Tzaangor, and take an objective from them, which shoots me ahead in the points.

Morale does for the rest of the daemons, leaving just two Plaguebearer characters who will not be long for this world. Kasfunatu concedes the game and five years of WoffBoots are avenged! 

My glorious dead.

Final thoughts

Gosh. That was about as comprehensive a tabling as I'm ever likely to inflict. I enjoyed a thick slice of luck in the game, compared to Kasfunatu's desperately unlucky turns.

It's odd how the actual scenario didn't really come into effect (we both drew very few Seize Objective cards), but the use of tactical objectives was critical - Kasfunatu wasn't getting any joy from his strategy to dominate the field, so had to push for bolder strikes with his monsters.

I think deepstriking both Daemon Prince and Great Unclean One was a case of gamble big / lose big. Although I couldn't have wished for a better turn of events than those failed charges, which essentially allowed me direct the strength of my entire army against one element at a time - Daemon Prince, Great Unclean One, Plaguebearers - and destroy them in detail.

And for me, everything worked as it should: the Defiler finally realised its full potential (I'm clearly wasting it as a gun platform - that thing can destroy monsters), the Terminators found their perfect perch for shooting with impunity, the Tzaangor are great in close combat, and the Psychic phase kicked ass!

After years of finishing mid-table, now just one victory stands between me and the title ... and it's against my old sparring partner Kraken.

Death to the False Emperor!