Trying out AoS on Tabletop Simulator

I like Tabletop Simulator. To be honest, since getting it a few years back, it’s mainly been used for a little bit of Scythe, a few games of Cosmic Encounter, and a lot of Terraforming Mars. We played a huge amount of Terraforming Mars on Tabletop Simulator during lockdown. It just worked really well and it was a lot of fun to still get to play my favourite game with friends, even if we were not able to meet up in person.

I’ve also played a couple of games of Warhammer 40,000 on it. Those are the only games that I’ve actually played of 9th edition, as my physical Necron s army has yet to make it to the table. My virtual one did ok, though!

Today, it seemed a fun idea to try to get some Age of Sigmar on the go. I grabbed a friend who is pretty good with this sort of thing and we set to it. As it happened, it was pretty convenient as we both had things we wanted to try. He wanted to try out some Lumineth and I wanted to reassure myself that Pusgoyle Blightlords were not terrible and that it’s not been a mistake to order several boxes of them…

The list I fielded was all about trying out these guys:

Allegiance: Maggotkin of Nurgle
– Subfaction: Drowned Men
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

Leaders
Lord of Afflictions (210)*
– General
– Command Trait: Infernal Conduit
– Artefact: The Splithorn Helm
Bloab Rotspawned (300)*
– Lore of Malignance: Rancid Visitations

Battleline
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*
2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (220)*
20 x Plaguebearers (300)*
– Reinforced x 1

Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment

Total: 1250 / 1250
Reinforced Units: 1 / 2
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 93
Drops: 1

My previous 1250 list featured a Great Unclean One. It was tempting to take the chonky boy again, but I figured it was better to try the Blightlords. Here are some pictures from the game:

The game went rather well for me. My first turn ward rolls were pretty fantastic. They didn’t stay quite as good, but it meant that I really didn’t take much damage in the first turns and I was able to regenerate most of it when we got to my hero phase. We called it after a couple of turns because the Lumineth were nearly tabled.

Lessons from this game:

The block of 20 Plaguebearers is a tarpit that my opponent was right to largely avoid.
The Lord of Afflictions is good, but not hugely better than the basic Blightlords (though the D3 damage on his Festerspike is nice). His real benefit is in carrying an artefact/command trait and other associated benefits of being a hero.
Bloab is still my boi.
The pre-game move with the Pusgoyle Blightlords is huge in an army where movement is a challenge. I feel safer making such a move when I have multiples of these units, as I wouldn’t want to leave on unit out on its own and vulnerable.
Chip damage (disease points) is still damage.
Believe in the 5+ ward.

I was happy with how smoothly this ran and am really looking forward to giving it another go in the near future. I just have to persuade more people in our group to go and get Tabletop simulator. Once you know how to set up your army, it really isn’t that bad. There’s also a Discord server dedicated to the mod so you can always find some help if you get stuck.