Neferata Strikes

  We've seen the Malign Portents campaign buildup by GW for a few weeks now, and it is exciting.  Even my wife is reading the short stories and painting up her undead in anticipation for the peaceful expansion of her kind.  So far, she's concentrated on the 'Deathrattle' part, or the part with a bunch of skeleton everything.  And Neferata.  For sure Neferata.  

  With all the work that she'd done to paint everything so quickly, I suggested that we play a game.  The Stormcast Eternal force I showed off a few posts ago was equal in points and it would give her a chance to remember how to play before we really got going.  She agreed and I was elated.  

  The game only went three turns and did, to the joy of all the haters that claim the game does this, turn into a scrum across the middle.  Better, I got 'priority' the entire game, meaning that I went first each turn.  She was hoping to get the back-to-back at some point, but never could claim it.  Not using any of the wonky terrain rules or even Match Play restrictions, this was as 'normal' as any game of AoS could be.  

  The only thing the Stormcast force could do was move as quickly as they could to destroy the rattling undead.  The Prosecutors rode the light until they were close enough to launch their hammers into the Grave Guard, smashing a few.  Worse, they could only watch as the slain reformed and rejoined the ranks, making their attacks completely worthless.  After the golden host advanced, they were taken by surprise as the Blood Mortarch overtook the Liberators on the flank and easily dispatched them.  More, the Black Knights burst from between the woods right into the center of the Stormcast lines, wounding them with their lance charge.  

  In response, the Retributors and Lord Celestant surrounded Neferata, ready to deal justice for the loss of their brothers.  In the meantime, the Liberators in the center retreaded from the Black Knights and let the Prosecutors smash into them with hammers crackling.  After the smoke cleared, a three of the knights had been dispatched as the third unit of Liberators pushed forward themselves.  Feeling confident, the Retributors smashed their Lightning Hammers into the Mortarch, wounding her pretty seriously. She responded with a noble's spite and brought the Lord Celestant to his knees, one would remaining.  Saved by the grace of a single roll of the dice, he struck her back with all his remaining might, bringing the queen to her last wound.  He waited for her to die, but was disappointed as the death poison from her dagger finally finished him.  The soul of the Stormcast general and the morale of his force were taken by Neferata and used to heal up a bit. 

  The Blood Queen chose to retreat while her skeletons pushed forward to surround the Prosecutors.  The Grave Guard, all but forgotten about until now, moved forward to charge the Liberators coming around the flank.  In short order, the skeletons and Black Knights had killed all of the Prosecutors except their leader, and the Grave Guard chopped up three of the remaining Liberators on the flank.  The golden host was being depleted even as the Black Knights that had suffered simply reassembled and filled the unit again.  

  Not to be denied their prize, the Retributors chased Neferata over the hill and finished her off with the power of their Lightning Hammers and the sacrifice of two of their own.  The Black Knights and skeleton warriors finished off the Prosecutors, then split to finish off the rest of the Stormcast.  The skellies charged left to punish the Lord Relictor and Retributors for killing their queen, and the Black Knights charged off to smash into the Liberators on the flank trying to fight off the Grave Guard.  It wasn't long before that flank was cleared as well.  

  While the Blood Queen was killed, it was at a much greater cost to the forces of Sigmar.  Victory was absolute for the undead and we stopped the game there.  Wow.  I was surprised.  I was surprised because my wife pretty much remembered all the rules and because I expected a much more one-sided game, in favor of the elite Stormcast Eternals.  After all, each model had a great save, a number of wounds and attacks, and weren't too few in number.  But her models, being one wound, typically one attack models, turned out to be much more resilient than I remember and dealt a bit more damage than I expected.  Even without the aid of the Wight King, her Grave Guard just destroyed anything they touched.  Wow.