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8th Ed. 2500 Life Slann and Tetto against Wood Elves

Discussion in 'Battle Reports' started by LawGnome, Jun 15, 2014.

  1. LawGnome
    Chameleon Skink

    LawGnome Active Member

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    Welcome, welcome, everyone, for round two against the wood elf menace!

    In our last game, the lizards tried their usual tactics, and were completely destroyed. This time, they are going to try to double team them with a life slann and with Tetto'eko, and see if their aggression can counter the hail of doom the elves are slinging.

    In this corner, we have the tag team duo of Dok'tor'Mc'oy and Tetto'eko, with their cadres of super soldiers:

    1 Slann: harmonic convergence, channeling staff, bsb, life magic, becalming cogitation
    Tetto’eko
    1 Scar-Vet: great weapon, cold one, armor of destiny
    1 Scar-Vet: cold one, stegadon helm, great weapon: light armor, luckstone
    4 units skink skirmishers (10 models each)
    1 unit saurus (30 models): standard, musician
    1 unit temple guard (26 models): full command, banner of swiftness
    1 unit cold one riders (9 models): standard, musician
    1 salamander
    1 unit rippers (3 models)
    1 salamander

    In the other corner, hailing from the organic section at Whole Foods, we have:

    Spell Weaver: Acorn of ages, steed
    Captain: BSB, steed, hagbane arrow, hail of doom arrow, enchanted shield, luckstone
    11 Glade Guard: musician, trueflight arrows
    11 Glade Guard: musician, trueflight arrows
    18 Glade Guard: full command, hagbane arrows
    5 Wild Riders: champ
    5 Wild Riders: champ
    5 Wild Riders: champ
    5 Sisters of the Thorn
    5 Sisters of the Thorn
    5 Sisters of the Thorn: full command, standard of discipline (wizard bunker)
    10 Waywatchers
    10 Waywatchers
    Eagle
    Eagle

    Let's see how our mighty heroes do against the drugged up hippies.

    Deployment
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    lizards_vs_wood_elves_6-14-14_mapEx01_zps7a52d8c4.jpg

    Deployment went about as expected. I intentionally left space on the right for scouts. It's a juicy spot: in the flank, out of charge arcs. If he dropped a unit of waywatchers there, though, the skinks would be able to shoot them to pieces, and it keeps them away from my cold ones. Sadly, he didn't take the bait.

    The big change to my normal gameplay was to have both salamanders centrally deployed. I used to put them on the flank, in hopes of having a great flank shot. I've since learned that if you have them on the flank, they will never get into combat. So I'm sacrificing a flank shot to actually get a shot. Totally worth it.

    Turn 1 - Lizards
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    lizards_vs_wood_elves_6-14-14_mapEx02_zps0adcb665.jpg

    I got to go first, and I put my plan of pure aggression into action. I got 2 vanguards from Tetto, and used them on my salamanders. Everyone else moves forward as far as they can. I declined to vanguard my rippers with the intent of charging the waywatchers. They make the charge easily, and survive the stand and shoot without taking a single wound. That group of waywatchers was also the group with the blot toad in it. I'm feeling pretty hopeful on this point.

    Magic goes well. I love the channel combo. My magic strategy is to cast throne, cast flesh to stone on the cold ones (I want them to survive shooting to get into combat), and then depending on the dice left over, cast either awakening the wood or comet. I get throne and flesh to stone off, but awakening gets dispelled.

    Shooting went really well. Both salamanders shoot perfectly, and the center group of waywatchers gets knocked down from 10 to 3. The right side skinks shoot off 4 of the 5 sisters (leaving Morag the Immortal alive. We'll get to her later). The left side skinks knock out 2 more sisters.

    The rippers were a complete disappointment. 2 die to melee combat before they can strike, and the third fails to cause a single wound and runs. For shame. I still need to work on ripper use. I'm currently thinking that they are just too weak against shooting and ASF to be of any use against elves. I'll think I will keep them in the box until I play against vamps again.

    Turn 1 - Wood Elves
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    lizards_vs_wood_elves_6-14-14_mapEx03_zps2af858d5.jpg

    The wood elves answer my aggression with some of their own. The wild riders stuff a load of "magic mushrooms" into their mouths and go running into everything they can. Apparently in their hallucinogenic haze they thought my skinks were a marvelous field of flowers and they go trampling in (much to the disappointment of my skinks). A group of wild riders gets into a combo charge with the three sisters and slam into my left salamander. The right side wild riders charge some skinks (who run), charge some other skinks (who also run), and stumble forward into the saurus' charge range. Morag the Immortal makes some max range charge attempts against the fleeing skinks, cause one of them to flee off the board. The eagle sees the danger that the wild riders are in and swoops forward to redirect. The severely wounded waywatchers back off, and the wizard bunker moves into a better position.

    Magic was close: 8-7 after channels. First cast is a 6-diced Mindrazor on the wild riders that charged the salamander. This was a really sound strategy. The idea was to murder the salamander, then overrun into the side of the cold ones (who would die horribly on the next round). Unfortunately, this was the only time this could happen. The miscast was a max strength power drain, removing all of the level 4's spells except for Pendulum.

    Shooting unwittingly undid the wild rider's strategy. The 10 waywatchers had reformed after driving off the rippers and shot off 3 cold ones. Unfortunately, this made the unit small enough that it was no longer in the path of the overrun. The glade guard look at the skirmishers holding Tetto. 4 units in the way, long distance....let's hit the unit on 3s (I hate trueflight arrows. I need to position better next time). 2 units of glade guard completely wipe out the unit and the mage they were protecting. Poor Tetto :(


    The salamander is understandably completely wrecked by the Mindrazored wild riders. The sisters overrun out of the way and get into the side of the temple guard, and the wild riders just barely miss the cold ones and stumble forward a bit.. The left most wild riders utterly destroy the skinks, and take no losses of their own.

    Turn 2 - Lizards
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    lizards_vs_wood_elves_6-14-14_mapEx04_zps8f73333e.jpg

    My forces are definitely smaller than before, but the aggression continues. The cold ones charge the weakened waywatchers (who run), and redirect into the glade guard (who stand and shoot). I lose a cold one to dangerous terrain, but otherwise slam into them with no issue. The lone ripper and the remaining skinks rally. The salamander moves up to blast the glade guard, and the saurus charge the eagle.

    Magic was low. 4-2. I spend all four dice to regrow 2 of my cold ones. My opponent has no chance of dispelling it thanks to having lost his level 4.

    Shooting was suddenly quite limited. I had one salamander left, and he took down 3 of the glade guard, who run (but not far enough).

    The cold ones completely obliterate the first group of glade guard. They tried to challenge to limit incoming damage, but it didn't do much. The scar vet accepts and the cold one kills him before the scar vet can attack (so no overkill, sadly). The rest of the unit makes up for it and the glade guard flee. I catch them and run into the next group, which will get handled next time. The temple guard kill one of the 3 sisters, and run straight into the side of the wild riders. The saurus kill the eagle and overrun into Morag the Immortal.

    Turn 2 - Wood Elves
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    lizards_vs_wood_elves_6-14-14_mapEx05_zpsf3b949d7.jpg

    The wood elves rally to try to clean up some of the extraneous stuff. Everything rallies. The wild riders crash into the side of the saurus, and the wizard bunker moves around behind them. The remaining eagle doesn't see anything that needs to be redirected so he goes and hides to ensure his survival.

    Magic was a result of me not fully realizing the implications of PF: I had enough dice to dispel one spell. He casts shield of thorns on the wild riders. I think that this will cause a lot of damage to the saurus, so I dispel it. He then casts curse on the cold ones. I think that this won't be that bad. I was definitely wrong. In the future, curse against cold ones will be a much higher priority.

    Most everything in is close combat at this point, so shooting is minimal. The waywatchers take out the remaining ripper. Everyone else just kind of sits there and waits for their chance.

    The wild riders that the temple guard ran into try to challenge their way out of getting killed. I have to accept, otherwise my slann might get pulled up (in retrospect, I could just send him to the back. I keep thinking like I'm playing ogres, not lizards. I will correct that in the future). In this case, it is no big deal. My guardian saves every wound and kills their champ. They run, and I run further, wiping them out. The cold ones take out the second group of glade guard, but since there are no skink characters left anywhere, they have to overrun off the side of the board, losing 2 of their members to the curse. The saurus manage to stick around, but they definitely don't do themselves justice. 6 attacks against Morag the Immortal, 2 wounds, both of which are saved by the ward. 8 attacks into the wild riders take out 2 of them. The saurus are steadfast, so the battle continues.

    Turn 3 - Lizards
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    lizards_vs_wood_elves_6-14-14_mapEx06_zpscdc5117e.jpg

    I forget all about my skinks. The cold ones come back and sit there. The saurus are still stuck. The temple guard charge the sisters. The salamander sits where it is.

    Magic was a huge mistake on my part. I had 9 dice. I 6-diced regrowth on the saurus, and then tried to 3 dice flesh to stone on them. I should have done that the other way. 3 saurus back is not anywhere near as good as tough 8 saurus. I won't make this mistake again.

    Shooting took out another couple of glade guard, but they don't panic. Since I forgot all about my skinks, they just sit there.

    The temple guard cause the sisters to flee and run them down (but they don't go far enough to hit the waywatchers). The saurus lose another 7 or so of their number, take out 2 of the wild riders, and fail to do anything to Morag the Immortal. They are still steadfast, and stick around.

    Turn 3 - Wood Elves
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    lizards_vs_wood_elves_6-14-14_mapEx07_zps72447b99.jpg

    The waywatchers get out of the way. The eagle comes in to protect them. The wild riders restrain themselves. Everyone else gets ready to shoot the cold ones. The wizard bunker moves around to shoot the salamander.

    I stop all of this spells this turn. It was low magic, and he tried to curse the cold ones again, which I was having none of.

    Shooting took out 2 more cold ones and put a wound on each scar vet. The wizard bunker and the glade guard take out 2 handlers and put a wound on the salamander.

    Morag the Immortal again takes no wounds and the wild riders lose all but one of their number. Still more saurus die, but they still hold.

    Turn 4 - Lizards
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    lizards_vs_wood_elves_6-14-14_mapEx08_zps5ec06dfd.jpg

    The temple guard charge the eagle (not much else to do). The cold ones don't have anyone in their charge arc, so they move closer to the temple guard to more easily get restored by life magic. The salamander moves and flips around to blast the wizard bunker. The skinks actually remember that they are there and move up to shoot the wizard bunker.

    The slann regrows a few more cold ones and buffs the toughness of the temple guard, which removes the wound on each of the scar vets.

    The salamander and the skinks take out 3 sisters. No panic, but that was to be expected.

    The saurus finally lose and run from Morag. She chases them down and runs into the skinks (no stand and shoot). The wild riders reform to face the skinks. The temple guard wipe out the eagle.

    Turn 4 - Wood Elves
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    lizards_vs_wood_elves_6-14-14_mapEx09_zpsd0a76287.jpg

    The last turn. The wild riders fail to restrain and run into the cold ones. The other wild rider runs into the skinks. The spellweaver runs out of combat to try to pendulum his way across the cold ones.

    He 6 dices pendulum, but I dispel it. He then casts shield of thorns on Morag the Immortal. She then wipes out 9 skinks at the end of the magic phase.

    Shooting wipes out the last salamander.

    Morag and the wild rider take out the last skink. We don't get a chance to see how the wild riders would do against the cold ones, as the store closed at that point. We figure that they will take out the cold one RnF, but the scar vets would survive to take out the rest of the wild riders.


    So, at the end of the game, we called it a draw, though I think he was in the better spot. All I had left was my temple guard and the cold ones (perhaps just the scar vets once combat is done). He had several highly mobile ranged units left. I was going to have a hard time getting rid of them. My main advantage moving forward was my dominant magic phase. I would be able to whittle down units with Awakening the Wood, and I had little to fear for my opponents magic. I could keep regrowing units and healing scar vets, all the while trying to get into a good position. I normally am against it, but I think I would have been better off with dwellers instead of awakening. I didn't want it from the get go, since it is expensive and my opponent had small units. Plus I could drop comets. After Tetto died so early, my magic phase diminished.

    Going forward, both my opponent and I are going to make some changes. He's dropping the acorn. It really isn't worth the 100 points. I am going to be dropping the rippers. I'm not sure what I will do instead. Maybe more cold ones?

    I definitely learned a lot about tactics with this list against wood elves. Trueflight arrows rip through skinks. If I am bringing Tetto, I need a large cohort bunker. I can't depend on my usual skirmisher bunker, as they are just so weak against trueflight arrows.

    For magic, flesh to stone is far more important than regrowth. Regrowth is really nice, but if a unit is in combat, give them the toughness boost first and foremost.

    I will definitely take the skirmishers in the future, but maybe take fewer of them. I won't be using them for redirecting, but instead keeping them back for clean up shooting. Wood Elves are too mobile to rely entirely on combat blocks.

    I think that rippers or terradons can be useful against Wood Elves, but I need to work on the tactics with them. I probably should avoid vanguarding them, and instead keep them back. Let the archers focus on other units, and come in for a long range support charge. I still don't know exactly what to do with them. They are just so fragile.

    I was really happy with magic (though it was helped by the first turn power drain). I am going to try the life/Tetto combo again.

    I love salamanders. That is all.


    So, does anyone have any comments to help me do better next time? Questions and comments are definitely welcome :)
     
  2. GhostWarrior
    Cold One

    GhostWarrior Member

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    In Turn 4, I was surprised the CO unit didn't charge the Waywatchers - were they out of LoS? The WW could Stand and Shoot, sure - but it would be a very reliable way to take them out. Based on the angle of the diagram, if the WW were to flee, they would likely flee through the TG, who could then charge them off the board. Or did I miss something?

    That was the big one for me.
     
  3. LawGnome
    Chameleon Skink

    LawGnome Active Member

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    I think it was an error in the report. The WW were just out of the charge arc of the cold ones, so the best option left was to get closer to the slann in order to get some wounds back on the scar vets.

    Thanks for the comment!
     
  4. Eladimir
    Salamander

    Eladimir New Member

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    Just wanted to say before I started reading the battle report. Rooting for you but a little bit nervous
     
  5. Eladimir
    Salamander

    Eladimir New Member

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    Doesnt predatory fighter only mean you have to pursue if the enemy breaks from combat. Nothing about overrunning? Thats frenzy
     
  6. LawGnome
    Chameleon Skink

    LawGnome Active Member

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    Oh hey, looks like you are right. I was treating it like crappier frenzy. That does make things a little better (though against wood elves it seems like they always have 2 or 3 models survive to run away. It is surprisingly hard to wipe out entire units in one go.)

    Shame that a slann doesn't count as a skink character for purposes of restraint checks.
     
  7. Eladimir
    Salamander

    Eladimir New Member

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    A point of MUCH complaint by me. The slann, the all powerful telepathic leader of the lizardmen has no control of telling sworn bodyguard the Temple Guard to not persue those two remaining archers because we'll be counter charged and slaughtered if we do...... balls
     
  8. JPowah
    Skink

    JPowah Member

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    Can i ask what you've used to make your report? The images? Epic game :D Hope to read more

    JP
     
  9. Kblock
    Kroxigor

    Kblock Active Member

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    I believe the report was made using a free software called Battle Chronicler. I recently downloaded it myself and have used it to help illustrate my first battle report.
     
  10. LawGnome
    Chameleon Skink

    LawGnome Active Member

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    Yup, as Kblock said, I used battle chronicler. I really like how the battle reports turn out using it, as I find it easier to get a clear picture of what happened.

    You can download the software for free from http://battlechronicler.com/

    It takes a little bit of time to really learn how to use it. I've done four or five reports with it, and I learn something new each time. The hardest part about it is finding a mistake in an earlier turn. Once you complete all the movement and unit changes on any particular turn and move forward to the next, it locks the previous turn to prevent accidental editing. If you make a mistake and need to go back to a previous turn, the changes you make will not show up in any future turns that you have completed. I've had to completely redo battle reports due to this.

    If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I'd love to see more battle reports using this software.
     
  11. johho
    Skink

    johho New Member

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    Regarding Rippers, I have tried played with them in 7-10 fights, they have ALWAYS disapointed me. Only ones have they got there points back in kills.

    I would go with chameleonts instead, they have so far ALWAYS got atleast more points then they are worth, often twice the amount. They are just so good. And you have alot of nice things to shoot at in WE army, Wild riders for instance :)
     
  12. LawGnome
    Chameleon Skink

    LawGnome Active Member

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    Yeah, the rippers were pretty disappointing. The problem is that trueflight arrows demolish chameleons without trying. They really need the bonus from skirmishing and chameleons to avoid getting hit. When they are hit on 3s and die on 3s, they lose a lot of their value. Since everyone brings trueflights when they play wood elves, you really need to tailor your list a bit to bring the toughest stuff you have. Skinks are fantastic in every situation EXCEPT against wood elves.
     
  13. johho
    Skink

    johho New Member

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    So two dissapointing things then :) Maybe go without both of them?
     
  14. Screamer
    Temple Guard

    Screamer Member

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    Small ripper-units don't do front charges. They do flank, maybe rear charges. And, of course, the most important thing: area denial. Because no one wants them in the flank, and that should be used properly.

    Just remember that they are glass cannons. 6w, T3 and 4+sv with bad I. Limit the number of attacks against them. front charge=10+attacks. Flank charge =5> attacks.
     
  15. sillyduck123
    Saurus

    sillyduck123 Member

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    Just going to comment on the quality of this battle report

    really well put together:D !!!
     
  16. LawGnome
    Chameleon Skink

    LawGnome Active Member

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    Thanks!
     

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