ND Open V - Battle Report

ND Open is finished, and i’m very happy to say that i got what i wanted ; a load of fun, and a load of good comments on my army. The only bad comment came from the judge, who pointed out that my toad didn’t have a base done like the others.

Not my picture, but my army

I finished 22^nd (out of 50 players) in Best General. It’s roughly what I was aiming for. I hadn’t tried my list nor even the new book prior to the tournament, so I wasn’t really expecting to do too well. I think with a few more game under my belt, I could have done a lot better. (my score : 100.5, best score : 143)

I also finished 12^th overall in best Sportmanship. This isn’t really representative on how well you behave or how well your list is played, since, well, it’s so subjective. So I’ll just be happy that I wasn’t too far down there. (my score : 117.5, best score : 128)

I finished tied 2^nd in Best Presentation, which is pretty much where I was hoping to get (I really wanted the 1^st place, but I knew there would be 2-3 army better painted than mine up there). I quite frankly don’t mind all that much that I didn’t bring back the price, because frankly I was just very happy to be considered one of the top painted army. Definitely feels like it paid off to spend so much time painting a whole 2500 pts army in  roughly 6 months. It was fun, and I’m happy about what came out. I’m definitely looking forward to next year, with either more added to the carnival, or a completely new army (most definitely another Chaos God). (my score 110, best score : 120)

And I finished….. 3^rd (!!!!!) Overall. That’s quite a surprise. It’s not something I was expecting at all (was aiming at a top 15), and that alone put a big smile on my face. I did face some pretty strong list (especially on my first game, where I faced a Ld bomb army from old Daemon book). (my score 338, best score : 389)

After the cut, my list, and battle report.

My list

Great Unclean One “Green Waffle”

Lvl4 of Nurgle

Exalted Gift

Lesser Gift

Herald of Nurgle BSB

Lvl1 of Nurgle

Greater Gift

Epidemius

28 Plaguebearers

Full Commands

27 Plaguebearers

Full Commands

3 Nurgling bases

4 Beasts of Nurgle

3 Plague Drone of Nurgle

Battle Standard Bearer

3 Plauge Drone of Nurgle

An average list, considering I’m not using anything from other gods that would make my list instantly better (like cannons or a Tzeentch caster).

Sparkling, like one of those Vampire

Game 1 vs Daemon of Chaos (old book)

His list ;

Keeper of Secret (ld test to hit him)

Lvl2 Wizard with Death

The Masque

BSB with Banner that reduce Ld on a Slaanesh Steed

Unit of Steed

Horde of Plaguebearers

Horde of Daemonettes

Random Roll ;

My BSB rolled 3, which I defaulted for Fencer’s Blade (I’d end up doing that a lot during the tournament)

My GUO rolled 1 on his lesser (which he defaulted to ASF sword) and 2 on his Exalted (+1 wounds on 5+ when a spell is successfully cast).

Now that I see the list, and after the game its obvious what this list was about. Sadly, I hadn’t played much of Daemons, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, and to make things worst, I didn’t have really enough ranged weapon or magic to deal with his “weak” threat.

So the game was pretty simple ; 3 objective, the middle worth 15 pts, the other two 5 each.

I basically held the left side with a unit of plaguebearers, facing his larger horde of Plaguebearers. His fast cavalry with his BSB easily went around the unit. 1^st mistake.

During the first 2 turn, nothing major happened, except that I let Stupidity spell pass on my GUO. Since I didn’t know what to expect of his army (closed list environment), and since I though that Ld9 would be good enough, I wanted to save my Dispel Dice for Purple Sun… Well, that didn’t really work out in the end. My GUO spent the remaining 4 turns moving forward 1 inch at a time, failing each test at -4 or -5 (thanks to masque and BSB).

The game was pretty much lost when he started casting Purple Sun on my units twice, killing close to 20 each time, pretty much killing any chance I had to tie or win the game.

To add insult to injury, I rolled double 1 on wind of magic the turn he had pendulum activated, pretty much finishing anything I had other than my remaining Plague bearers units.

I do have to give big credit to my Nurgling and Plague Drone, which sacrificed themselves to the Keeper of secret, keeping him in check for over half the game, thanks to skirmished in a forest.

Loss 5-20

In the end, there isn’t really much to learn from that game, since it was under an old codex that I’ll never ever play against again.

An actual game shot!

Game 2 vs Skaven

His list ;

tons of units of slaves

1 cannon

1 catapult

3 or 4 giant rats dart

A few other units

Random Rolls ;

BSB got 5, which is 2+ AS. He never got to use it, since he never saw combat.

GUO got 4 on lesser (2+ Ward on first wound, I dreaded his cannon), and 2 again on Exalted.

Game was straight Victory pts.

I have to say, this is the only game I didn’t get through at least turn 5 (most ended on turn 6). He had tons of units, shooting, magic, it was a nightmare for a timed game.

This game there isn’t really much to say about. He activated his anti-shooting/flying banner, which turned my two unit of Plague Drone into spectator, and the rest of my unit just rushed forward, sometime hitting a unit of slave and beating them. There wasn’t any big combat, and the only real combat we had was my unit of nurgling beating up a few units of giant rats to get to his catapult. Them alone killed roughly 400 pts worth of enemy. Considering I didn’t really kill that much more, they deserve a Unit of the Game Award. Note that I rolled twice double 1 on my wind of magic, but didn’t affect the game at all.

Win 15-10

The game was pretty much won when I saw him targeting the wrong thing all game long. He never took a shot at my GUO, and always aimed for my Drones, even if they were basically sitting there thanks to his banner.

Why so serious? Lets put a smile on your face

Game 3 vs Tomb King

His list ;

3 Chariots

1 Flying Monster

1 unit of Tomb guard

2 unit of Snakes Entombed

1 unit of archer

1 unit of skeleton

1 casket of soul

Random Roll

BSB got 3, defaulted for Fencer’s Blade

GUO got Lesser 1, and Exalted 1 (+1 DD for each dispel attempt)

This game was a pretty weird scenario. We had 3 banner we could allocate up to 3 pts (for a total of 6), and 13 pts was for victory points. 2 of my Plague bearers units had 3 and 2 pts, while my unit of Drone had 1 pts. I specifically added a 3^rd banner to my list for that scenario.

Once again, he watched me march slowly to his line, while trying to grinding me slowly with his magic and shooting.

One interesting note ; my Unit of Plague Drone, heading for his line flank, ended up being charged by his flying monster (sorry, I never remember which one it is). They held for 3 or 4 rounds, until later in the game they were helped by the Toads and Epidemius Tally. They definitely deserve the Unit of the Game Award, as it kept my army from being thunderstomped to death. I rolled twice Wardsave on Heroic Killing Blow (once even on a 6+, thanks to wind of magic).

Win 20-5

This win helped me forget the pretty bad start I had with the first two games, and was overall really fun, with dice going heavily on my favour for the most part.

It's all about the hat!

Game 4 vs Warrior of Chaos

His list ;

2 Chimera

1 Daemon Prince

1 Mage of Death

2 or 3 unit of Warriors

1 unit of Skullcrusher

1 Chariot

Random Roll

BSB rolled 5, defaulted for Fencer’s blade

GUO rolled poorly on lesser, which was defaulted to ASF, and Exalted 1.

Scenario was Table Quarter and Victory Pts.

With a pretty bad score the first day, I wasn’t expecting to face that kind of list. It’s one tough list, with 3 very hard hitting monster (quite frankly, I wasn’t expecting the Chimera to be THAT good)

I started the game with some pretty aggressive charge, sending my GUO against a Chimera (though his Toughness would be enough to break him), and my Plague bearers against his unit of Warriors with his death wizard (didn’t feel like being purple sunned to death again).

I broke the Warrior easily, rolling 11 for the charge, while my GUO went after his Chimera, pretty much failing to do anything worthwhile (thanks to a stupid cheap regen).

So I removed a dangerous threat, but stuck a nearly 700 VP model in the middle of his line. And the GUO died the following turn, to a chariot charge, that didn’t do anything, but just enough so I pop on combat result.

After loosing my GUO, I pretty much had nothing left to deal with his Daemon Prince or his two chimeras (or even his Skullcrushers), so it was a downhill battle from there, trying to save as much points as possible here and there and avoid loosing by too much.

Loss 7-18.

I have to say, I did learn a lot about GUO combat ability, and how much of a treat a Chimera was. I learned the hard way, and I think it’s not the last time I’ll face that kind of list.

So...many....of....them

Game 5 vs Ogres

His list ;

unit of 10 Ogres

unit of 8 or so Ironguts

unit of 5 mournfangs

2 ironblaster

3 Maneaters.

A pretty standard list, maybe on the soft side (if we forget the 2 ironblaster). A pretty sad sight, it was the first painted army I faced (and would be the only one) all tournament long.

Scenario was one of the worst scenario in that tournament. We basically had to grab a banner on the other side, and bring it back to our deployment zone. I think out of the 25 games, over the half ended with a tie.

Random Roll ;

BSB got 2, defaulted to Fencer’s Blade.

GUO got Exalted 1 (+1 DD) and Lesser 3, defaulted for ASF.

Game went my way early. His deployment was made in a way that only 1 unit could grab his banner (his 3 maneaters unit), which was reduced to 2 models (so can’t grab the banner, tournament rules) thanks to wind of magic dealing 5 wounds to the units.

I have to say, my army was saved by the fact he didn’t think about sniping my characters, and instead went for my Drone (which one unit died pretty horribly thanks to a cannonball).

The first 3 turn were played with me rushing forward, and him moving backward. It made me laugh, as I pretty much always attempt 8-9 inchs charge on my Ogres, but he didn’t want to risk it.

My nurgling once again played a big part in the game, holding another unit in the woods. In the end, the game played on a bad decision on my part ; I forced his mournfang to take a charge from my plaguebearers, I won, and decided to chase him, giving my flank to one of his units. This pretty much gave him a tie (since I had a pretty good chance to get my banner with that unit), since he broke my unit on the charge (with epidemius…). We finished the game, even though we knew it would be a tie. It was bloody, but wasn’t really fulfilling.

Tie 12.5-12.5

This was my 5^th game, and so far, having 2 character without Look out Sir! didn’t matter. Obviously, I was in the lower table, so the list and/or player were average, but still. I’m definitely considering fielding that same type of list again and again.

Nurgle.... Carnival!

Game 6 vs Dark Elf

His list ;

Big unit of cold one with Character

Unit of 20 black guard

4 unit of 10 Crossbowman

Unit of 30 or so spearman with mage of death (AGAIN!!!!!)

1 hydra

2 Chariots.

Random Roll ;

BSB : rolled 3, but wasn’t really doing anything worthwhile.

GUO Rolled 6, rerolled and got a 3, which I defaulted for Eternal Blade (+D3 WS,S,I,A each combat), rolled a 2 for lesser (Breat S2 no-AS) and 6 (ASF). A brute.

Scenario was Victory Pts with a twist. Each player rolled a D3, and that many units were held in reserve. His mage’s unit and my Epidemius’s unit were in reserve.

I went first, rushing my Plague Drone on his flanks (which would end up tieing his black guard in the corner all game), and my other in front of his many archers units. He played a lot of rat and mice game, running from my charge (to avoid giving me easy tally), and counting on pretty much just his Cold One and his mage to win the game.

When his mage finally arrive, on turn 3, he attempted a Purple Sun on my Plague Drone blocking his blackguard, but ended up misfiring and losing his spell. I survived again.

Somethings worth nothing ; my nurgling survived a chariot charge on double 1 (regaining their loss base) and ended up beating it in combat once Epidemius tally kicked in. Pretty impressive for an annoyance unit. I also rolled double 6 on the magic table, giving me a unit to slow down his a Cold One (and eventually, keeping them in  combat until GUO reinforced them).

And the not so lucky ; beast rolled double 6 on a leadership test, popping instantly.

Win 20-5

Scenario helped me a lot, with his mage being held in reserve until turn 3, but I think he played too conservative, and should of moved his Blackguard anyway. That unit and his Cold One would be able to break just about anything in my army.

In the end, I was really happy with the final result. Kind of bummed that I didn’t bring home any trophy, but I got good comments all weekend long on my paint and conversion. Next year, there’s a few thing I’ll definitely change on my list, but I think I might bring somewhat the same thing.