Battleplan: The Trap

Battleplan: The Trap

We recently played the next game in the Realmgate Wars series – The Trap. We’re still fighting in Ghyran, the Realm of Life, and this game gives us a bit of background and feel to what’s happening in Ghyran prior to the Stormcast Eternals arriving.

For many centuries, Nurgle’s forces have spread across and corrupted Ghyran, polluting rivers, corrupting flora and fauna alike, turning the Jade Kingdoms into twisted, blighted realms. Alarielle has hidden herself away, grown disconnected with her realm and people.

Despite Alarielle’s disinterest, the Sylvaneth are still motivated to fight on, and to destroy the forces of Nurgle where possible. The Trap is an example of the kind of fighting that is going on all over Ghyran. At the centre of the Greenglades lies the Shimmertarn, an ornately carved standing stone from whence rivulets and streams flow, purifying the surrounding lands and providing a pocket of resistance against Nurgle’s encroachment. As such, this makes the Greenglades a tempting target for the Rotbringers.

The Blightmage Kraderblob has sensed the nearby magics of the Shimmertarn, and leads a warband into the forest to search for it. As the Rotbringers stumble through the undergrowth, increasingly becoming isolated, the Sylvaneth spring their ambush.

The scenario itself is simple enough – a classic ambush. The Nurgle forces begin in an area bereft of cover, and surrounded on three sides by the Sylvaneth. Interesting, to provide the feeling of how difficult orchestrating an ambush can be, and how surprised the defenders are, neither side can move in their first movement phase, and units can either shoot or charge in the first battle round, but not both. The defender also has to subtract an additional 1 from save rolls in the ambusher’s first shooting phase. Not that our Sylvaneth forces have a great amount of firepower, but every little bit helps! The entire game is a “to the death” affair, so no special objectives to think about this time.

Forces:

We decided to use similar forces to the previous battle, but increase them slightly as we are getting used to the rules for each faction.

Sylvaneth:

Treelord Ancient

Spirit of Durthu

Drycha

Branchwraith

2 x 20 Dryads

3 x 5 Tree Revenants

3 Kurnoth Hunters

Nurgle:

Lord of Blights

Nurgle Sorcerer

3 x 5 Blight Kings

Poxbringer Herald

Spoilpox Scrivener

30 Plaguebearers

3 Beasts of Nurgle

Both forces have some solid blocks of infantry here – though the Nurgle ones are somewhat more resilient than their Sylvaneth counterparts. Originally, we were planning to use three Treelords, but substituted Drycha for one of them at the last minute, just to see how she would perform.

Battle Round One

Spying the Nurgle Rotbringers advancing into the killing ground before them, both Drycha and the Treelord Ancient attempted to bolster their forces with magic, but their attempts fizzled and failed.

The Kurnoth Hunters launched the ambush by unleashing a volley of arrows at a group of Blightkings stumbling near the front of the Nurgle column, but their volley went wide and only one Blightking was struck by the giant missiles. Unconcerned by the shaft embedded in his stomach, the Blightking continued to advance.

The Spirit of Durthu and the Treelord ancient launched a storm of Doom Tendrils and Verdant Blasts of green energy at the Plaguebearers, destroying three. Enraged by the inability of her forces to effectively cause damage, Drycha summoned a swarm of Flitterfuries to ravage the Blightkings. Two putrid warriors fell as the flies buzzing around them proved no match for the native Ghyrani insects.

The combination of Rampant Diseases sweeping across the battlefield and the Hidden Fester Corruption lurking amongst the trees caused Drycha’s leaves to blemish and crack, and quickly overcome two Tree Revenants and four Dryads. Horrified at the corruption endemic in the Greenglades, a further Dryad fled, unable to face the virulent plagues.

Realising that he was surrounded, Kraderblob, the Rotbringer Sorcerer, casts a Mystic Shield on a unit of Blight Kings in an attempt to bolster the front of the column. The Poxbringer Herald attempted to throw an Arcane Bolt at the looming Spirit of Durthu, but the magic was swiftly dispelled by the Treelord Ancient. The rest of the Rotbringers braced themselves for the inevitable Sylvaneth assault.

  

Battle Round Two

Determined to whittle down the numbers of Plaguebearers before the lines met, the Treelord Ancient threw an Arcane Bolt at the festering daemons, killing 2. Nearby, the Branchwraith sang softly to a grove of trees, awakening a group of Dryads within.

The Spirit of Durthu again levelled his sword at the Plaguebearers and channelled the energy within into blasts of green light, annihilating a further clutch of daemons. The Treelord Ancient flailed out with his Doom Tendril at the Poxbringer Herald, but the wily daemon anticipated the thrashing vines and dodged at the last second. The Kurnoth Hunters continued to rain arrows down on the Blight Kings, impaling their Standard Bearer and leaving him to slump slowly to the ground. Drycha’s Flitterfuries continued to ravage the same unit, leaving just the Blightlord alive.

Judging the moment right, the Spirit of Durthu led a throng of Dryads into the Plaguebearers. Unprepared for such a furious assault, the Plaguebearers were quickly torn apart, and the final daemon evaporated out of existence before he could be killed by the angry spirits.

On the other side of the clearing, Drycha launched herself at a knot of Blightkings, swiftly followed by more dryads. Four putrid warriors were ripped apart by the embittered spirits, but the remaining Blightkings were unperturbed, and calmly began to hew at the Dryads around them, their axes reaping a suitable tally of foes, and causing further tree spirits to melt back into the forest. The Blightkings’ wounds began to close as Nurgle’s blessings once more swept across the forest and further forest folk fell to the virulent diseases.

Desperate due to the sudden encroachment of Drycha, Kraderblob summoned a mystic shield to toughen the hides of the Blightkings. The Lord of Blights, realising the urgent need to slow the Sylvaneth advance, summoned a cloud of flies to further confuse the accuracy of the Sylvaneth shooting. The Herald of Nurgle fired an arcane blast of putrid energy at the Spirit of Durthu, causing a portion of its bark to slough away, before retreating away from the looming Treelord and placing the Beasts of Nurgle between himself and danger.

The Lord of Blights passed out a munificent bounty of swollen severed heads to the nearby Blightkings, which were swiftly used to bludgeon a Dryad to death. Joyfully, the Beasts of Nurgle barrelled into the Dryads accompanying the Spirit of Durthu, crushing seven as they enthusiastically rolled around on the forest floor, sustaining only slight scratches as they did so. A further seven fled the combat, desperately avoiding the slavering beasts.

The Lord of Blights waded into the melee in front of him, hammer swinging, and crushed the wooden skulls of a brace of Dryads. The final surviving Dryad was swiftly brought down by the Blightkings, who swarmed around her, hacking with rusted axes and blades.

Battle Round Three

A further Tree Revenant keeled over and both Treelords shuddered as the corruption endemic in the woodlands continued to reap its toll. Sensing that his forces required further blessings, Kraderblob called upon the powers of Grandfather Nurgle to grant them with Fecund Vigour. The Lord of Blights joined his prayers, continuing to shield the Blightkings from view behind a thick tide of flies.

The Herald once again cast an arcane bolt at the Spirit of Durthu, seeking to whittle the towering giant down. Calling to the Beasts to follow him, he retreated further away from the Treelord, looking to draw it away from the woodlands empowering its strikes.

The Blightkings threw another volley of munificent heads at Drycha, smashing a number of her branches. A Blightlord separated himself off from the group, and charged into the lone figure of the Branchwych, but neither combatant could gain an advantage. The other Blightkings, the Lord of Blights and Kraderblob all charged Drycha, hoping to end her murderous rampage. The Blightkings’ axes, honed for chopping wood, wounded Drycha terribly, and her return blows were much feebler than before, barely injuring one of the Blightkings.

Drycha screamed, causing a primal terror to grip Kraderblob, leaving him stricken with agony. Unable to best the Blightlord in physical combat, the Branchwych unleashed a tide of forest sprites upon him, which savaged the corpulent warrior, leaving him gasping for breath.

Spying an opportunity to outflank the Herald, a unit of Tree Revenants used their waypipes to navigate the Realmroots until they were behind the daemon. 

Having little success against the Blightkings, the Kurnoth Hunters changed targets to the Beasts of Nurgle, but again their arrows were wide of their mark with only a single arrow meeting the target. The Beast capered on, ignorant of the yards-long shaft embedded in its side.

The Spirit of Durthu unleashes his verdant blast in to the melee swirling around Drycha, smashing a Blightking from his feet, before striding into combat, slicing down a further three putrid warriors. Kraderblob, suddenly vulnerable, lashed out desperately with his staff, splintering bark from the Spirit of Durthu’s navel. A nearby group of tree revenants took advantage of the Rotbringers’ losses, and launched themselves at suddenly exposed Lord of Blight, their blades scoring cuts across his bulk. Ignoring the stinging cuts, the Lord of Blights swung his hammer into the back of Drycha’s knee, bringing her to ground. A second blow left the enraged spirit unconscious.

Distracted by the crash as Drycha collapsed, the Blightlord facing the Branchwych was no match for her Bittergrub, which lashed out and tore the warrior’s head from his shoulders. On the other side of the battlefield, the Beasts continued to roll around happily, excited at the prospect of fetching so many sticks back to the nearby Herald. Six Dryads were crushed by the slug like creatures, and a further two were quickly dismembered by the Scrivener’s distended maw. Dryads slunk back into the trees, leaving only the Branch Nymph to continue the fight.

Battle Round Four

The Branchwraith and the Treelord Ancient were once again wracked with agony as Nurgle’s plagues took their toll. Kraderblob projectile vomited a stream of corruption onto the Spirit of Durthu that he was fighting, leaving it badly wounded. The Herald added his efforts towards crippling the Treelord by unleashing an arcane bolt at the spirit as well.

Sensing that the Spirit of Durthu was close to death, the Lord of Blights commanded his nearby followers to launch a counter attack, ensuring their blows would be telling. Enticed by the sounds of battle, a further Beast of Nurgle appeared from the treeline, close to the Scrivener, who took the opportunity to hawk a blob of toxic phlegm at the Dryad Branch Nymph, partially dissolving her and leaving the Beasts to fight over her remains.

The Lord of Blights clonked a Tree Revenant over the head with one of his deathly heads, and chopped down the remaining ones with his maul. Both Kraderblob, the remaining Blightking, and the Spirit of Durthu continued to duel, but neither party could gain the upper hand.

Seeing the imminent peril, the Branchwych cast a Mystic Shield around the Spirit of Durthu. Across the battlefield, the Branchwraith summoned another group of Dryads from the forests, and directed them to attack the Beasts of Nurgle once more.

The Spirit of Durthu blasted the remaining Bightlord with his spirit energy, but in his weakened state the viridian bolts were not powerful enough to overcome the fetid champion. The Kurnoth Hunters aim finally improved, and they spitted the Lord of Blight’s body with arrows. Collapsing to the floor, the Lord beseeched Grandfather Nurgle for a chance to continue spreading plagues. Nurgle looked favourably upon the havoc that his servant had wrought, and poured foul energy back into his champion, reknitting his wounds and allowing to rise from the forest floor once more.

The Branchwych charged into the newly risen Lord of Blights, her scythe reopening wounds across his body. Surprised by her ferocity, the Lord of Blights swung back with his maul, but was unable to cause more than superficial damage. The nearby Tree Revenants mobbed the remaining Blightlord, though they proved unable to land a telling blow.

The Treelord Ancient and another unit of Tree Revenants charged the Beasts of Nurgle and the Poxbringer Herald, determined to crush the foul creatures. In the mayhem, two Revenants were slain by the Beasts, but the Treelord Ancient enwrapped one with his Doom Tendril Staff, and then clubbed the creature to death.

Battle Rounds Five to Seven

The battle had bogged down into a slow grind, but the Sylvaneth were slowly gaining the upper hand. On one side of the clearing the Treelord Ancient and an ever-increasing tide of Dryads hacked at the Beasts of Nurgle and daemonic Heralds. The fight would claim the Treelord’s life, but the efforts of Branchwraith in summoning a continual stream of Dryads proved telling, and the Beasts were slowly hacked to death.

 On the other side, the Lord of Blight, the remaining Blightlord and Kraderblob proved difficult to put down. Kraderblob finally slew the Spirit of Durthu with another stream of corruption, and the small group of putrid warriors rampaged through the remaining Tree Revenants. They were only stopped when they attempted to charge the Kurnoth Hunters, who systematically launched volley after volley of arrows into their fetid forms.

The Sylvaneth had destroyed this group of Rotbringers, but cost had been high. The tree spirits gathered up their fallen comrades, and melted back into the treeline in sorrow.

Well that was a grind! And quite surprising that the Nurgle forces survived for so long. In the first three turns, the Nurgle force lost a big chunk of its infantry, and we feared that we’d made a bit of a miscalculation when putting the armies together. It turns out that even a coupe of Blightkings can do a huge amount of damage (especially when they keep rolling sixes, generating more attacks), and I was presently surprised at how well the Beasts of Nurgle did.

So, the scene in the Realm of Life has now been set – vicious fights between the Sylvaneth and forces of Nurgle leaving Ghyran on a knife edge. Our next battle will see the Stormcast Eternals enter the jade Kingdoms – it’ll be interesting to see how they fair against the Rotbringers.