Spearhead - Nurgle versus Sylvaneth in Ghyran

Having finished the Maggotkin of Nurgle Bleak Host Spearhead in the wee hours of the morning, I was pretty excited to try them out against the Sylvaneth that Amanda has been playing. 

Nurgle versus Sylvaneth in Ghyran is a pretty classic match-up. During the Age of Chaos, the forces of Nurgle almost entirely overran the Realm of Life - which was all battling between the Sylvaneth and the Maggotkin. Most of the fighting in Ghyran since the dawn of Sigmar's Tempest at the outset of the Realmgate Wars has been to cleanse and purge the forces of Nurgle from Ghyran by the forces of Order - primarily the Sylvaneth and Stormcast Eternals... but also the Cities of Sigmar and others, to a lesser extent! 

The Sylvaneth took the initiative marching on the servants of nurgle that were busy spreading the plaguefather's "blessings". 

Tree-Revenants charged a Pusgoyle Blightlord. An action they soon regretted, as three of them were quickly slain. 

The Kurnoth Hunters charged some Plaguebearers on the flank. 

the Plaguebearers were slow and easy enough to cut down and avoid their blows... but the Spoilpox Scrivner just behind them, splattered the Kurnoth with the most disgusting mucus when it unleashed a massive sneeze, spraying everything in its path... the Plaguebearers didn't seem to mind at all... 

Putrid Blightkings shambled into combat..

They slaughtered the rest of the Tree-Revenants, allowing the Pusgoyle Blightlord to turn on the Kurnoth who cut two of them down!

The remaining Kurnoth stepped through the Spirit Pathways and the Sylvaneth redressed their lines, calling up some of their reserve Tree-Revenants. 

Then the Treelord and the last remaining Kurnoth Hunter slipped behind enemy lines to exact some sort of flanking pincer move, perhaps? 

But left their Branchwych leader dangerously exposed! 

The presence of the Kurnoth Hunter behind them drew the Plaguebearers and Pusgoyle Blightlords attention. 

The Putrid Blightkings shambled towards the enemy general... but failed to press their advantage, giving her a chance to flee deeper into the woods. 

The treelord, hearing the Branchwychs desperate call through the spirit song returned to her... as MORE Plaguebearers arrived 

and ANOTHER Pusgoyle Blightlord buzzed into the battle. 

The other Plaguebearers and Pusgoyle Blightlord had dealt with the Kurnoth Hunter and secured the Maggotkin rear and right flanks. 

A savage battle ensued on the left flank, during which the Branchwych was slain... 

MORE Tree-Revenants arrived and once more harried the Maggotkin's rear, drawing the Pusgoyle Blightlord back once again!  

It was a day of terrible loss for the Sylvaneth... 

In the end the Maggotkin of Nurgle won the day (24 victory points to 15!). It's a pretty hard hitting force which is difficult to kill! 

I had bought a set of fancy Sylvaneth dice for Amanda... but she was unsure of their ability to roll well and rolled the lot of them a half dozen times to see.. on the whole, they rolled pretty average (or slightly above average, by my count...) there WERE a lot of crits being rolled, but Amanda pointed out that crits did not matter to her, as her force had no crit abilities!? I guess she IS actually paying attention and learning the game if she knows what crit abilities are, despite her force not having any!? 

The plaguebearers have Crit (mortal) - but there are only five in each unit and they (usually) only have ONE ATTACK each... so it rarely deals any damage. The entire Maggotkin force has a Battle Trait where every crit rolled in an attack gains them a Disease Ppoint (to a maximum of seven) then a second Battle Trait allows them to expend Disease Points to deal Mortal Wounds at the end of every turn! 

The Putrid Blightkings, in addition to each having four fairly effective attacks, have a unit ability (Relentless Attackers) where at the end of the turn, if still in combat, a die is rolled for each remaining member of the unit and if the roll is higher than their opponents health, a mortal wound is dealt... which means they really want to be bullies and pick on the WEAKEST units the enemy has! 

Looking forward to playing with these more! (and painting up the Great Unclean One and Shudderblight Cyst to try some bigger battles with these!)