Children of Cothique 3000 point list for WAP

[Ramesesis]

So, tomorrow saturday I will once again face the foul fiends of Nurgle. It is 3000 points this tine around so it is all hands on deck!
My general, Prince Ramesesis the Daemonslayer (he has earned that title the hard way) will march with the Wardens of Mathlann.
The Battle Standard bearer will command the spears and the mounted noble will of course lead the Silver helms.

Heroes.
Ramesesis - Prince 223
Sword of Hoeth, Amulet of Light, Armour of Protection,
Shield

Selenoa - BSB 137
Armour of Fortune, Sword of Might
Shield

Caerntan - Noble 137
Ogre blade, Dragonhelm, Gem of Courage
Elven steed, bardings, shield & Heavy armour

Celenna - Mistweaver lv2 165
Khaines ring of Fury, Scroll of shielding

Finveir - Mage lv2 170
Annulian crystal

Core
Dawnspears - Spearelves 369
29, Full command & War banner

Red Arrows - Archers 176
14 Archers , Hawkeye

Blades of Ulthuan - Warriors 165
15 Warriors, Full command,
Medium armour & Shield

Wave Serpents - Silver Helms 253
9 Silver helms, Full command & Banner of Ellyrion


Special
2 Eagle claw Bolt throwers 120

Lion chariot 110

Daughters of the Mist - 190
10 Sisters of Avelorn Champion

White lions 345
20 White lions, Full command
Banner of Courage


Rare
Great Eagle 50

Wardens of Mathlann 384
19 Phoenix guards, Full command,
Banner of Defiance

If I had the troops I would rather have fielded a second spear unit or even Seaguards instead of the White lions
The reason being that spears and seaguards are more durable in the grind that Nurgle daemons like.
The lions hit hard but are infact not so great if the enemy have strength 4 and are not going to break.
More spears are coming in the future.

So I hope that the Lions at least will be able to tie something up for a turn or two, alternatively managing to be able to get at a monster and their thing.

[Prince of Spires]

Interesting. I see the point of bringing more spears. I think this might be one of those specific scenario's where they might indeed be better than WL.

How did the list perform?

[Ramesesis]

I lost in the end. It was a hard battle but there were two key moments. First, his Plaguebearer lucked out managing to kill my general who were leading the Phoenix Guard. 4 attacks, 3 hits, 3 wounds, 3 failed armour saves followed by 3 failed 4+ ward saves!
It looked like it went my way until turn 3.
I missed to move my lion chariot once and that could have made a difference since he was very worried by it. But the big thing was when his Daemon prince together with a plaguebearer unit took down my White lions in two rounds! He charged and cut down 10 of them in his turn. I tried to axe the Daemon prince but all attacks missed. Then in my turn, he annihilated them and reformed so he could smash into the flank of my spears and crush them in his own turn. His general has sword of strife plus some mean spells so he could boost his wardsaves on the unit he wanted to. And he had a gift that forced my to always strike last which meant no elven grace dodge.
My cavalry was stuck fighting some flying monstrous cavalry and he prolonged that fight by giving his unit a combined ward save of 3+. When I managed to finally finish of the big flies and could combo charge with my lion chariot into the unit with his general in thanks to him forcing me to always strike last he could slaughter the cavalry in the second turn. My noble leading the cavalry miffed his attacks. I should have challenged his general to spare my cavalry his attacks, but now he killed them before they even got to fight besides the impact hit from the horses since his general had higher initiative than my Silver helms.
I fought back as hard as I could and took down a large part of his army, But in the end the only ones standing of my army were my Great eagle and 5 Phoenix guards.

That he crushed my Lions in my own turn was what doomed me. I realized it as soon as he reformed that he would steamroll my spears and Battle Standard bearer.

[SpellArcher]

I lost in the end.

4 attacks, 3 hits, 3 wounds, 3 failed armour saves followed by 3 failed 4+ ward saves!

Ouch!

Then in my turn, he annihilated them and reformed so he could smash into the flank of my spears and crush them in his own turn.

It does sound grim.

[Prince of Spires]

4 attacks, 3 hits, 3 wounds, 3 failed armour saves followed by 3 failed 4+ ward saves!

That's painful. I'd expect maybe 1 wound off that, not 3. It's hard to plan for something like that.

That he crushed my Lions in my own turn was what doomed me. I realized it as soon as he reformed that he would steamroll my spears and Battle Standard bearer.

Not an easy feat. 20 WL are no joke.

I fought back as hard as I could and took down a large part of his army, But in the end the only ones standing of my army were my Great eagle and 5 Phoenix guards.

That just shows that PG are some tough little buggers. They really are hard to get rid off without a concerted effort (or if you manage to somehow break them).

[Tethlis]

Lions are great, but unlike Phoenix Guard, they get destroyed pretty easily if they get caught in a fight they weren't prepared for. That's one reason why their Stubborn is so useful... Bad rounds of combat happen, and at least they have good odds of sticking around if things do go poorly. They're the unit where I pay the most attention to relative Initiative values, my own versus my opponent's. The Great Weapon Penalties, plus other abilities dependent on being able to strike before their opponent (such as Elven Grace) are really important to track. A shame that Killing Blow didn't land; Lion Claw is such a great ability, and I'm glad that White Lions have access to it now. I had my own game versus Daemons, and 28 White Lions took a frontal charge from 6 Bloodbeasts and a Bloodthirster. The Lions took a messy 11 casualties, but their return attacks Heroic KB's 3 Bloodbeasts and did an additional 4 wounds on top of that, letting them win the combat. Bloodthirster rolled a 10 for Daemonic instability and vanished . A great moment, but goes to show that Killing Blow is such a tricky and potentially unreliable method. Great when it works, but disastrous if those 6s don't show up for you.

Sounds like his Choice of Nurgle paid off. Nurgle is one of the few instances where their Ward Save can go above a 3+ (one of their spells specifically allows that) plus the ability for their characters to confer Always Strikes Last is brutal.

I tend to combat all of this with use of my own Frost Phoenix. The Frost Phoenix has to be used carefully, since it doesn't want to get exposed to a full frontage of Poisoned Attacks. But supporting a block of white lions corner-to-corner, it gives them a lot more survivability, and helps even the odds in that tough Nurgle matchup.

Sounds like some tough dice luck all around though. Losing a combat characters in one round to rank-and-file attackers is going to hurt, regardless of what else happens in a game.