Hi all, I thought i would give this after last nights games. Forgive me in advance for the lack of pictures and knowledge of the names but i thought it would be fun to share my experience of using units i've never fielded before. I think this is about my 12th game and i usually run thunderquake so here we go for a difference: Lord Kroak Meteoric Convocation General Saurus Scar-Vet on Carno Celestite Warblade 10x Skinks Bolts and Bucklers 5 x Chameleon Skinks Eternal Starhost Eternity Warder Incadescent Reticles 3x 5x Saurus Guard Balewind Cogs Total Cost : 1.5k on the nose KO List I dont know the points but i assume he was on the dot also as he uses the same list. Forgive the names also Leader: Admiral - Proclamator Mask Hailer (free command ability) 2 x Arkanaut Company Ironclad 2x Frigates 5 Thunderers 1 CP Total: 1500k Before i begin we have played a few times and each time the Thunderquake has comfortably won however using the Carno and other units i wasnt familier with i was hoping it would be a close afair and build his faith in the what appears to be poor battletome of the KO up a little. I think we played Blood and Glory (it had 4 objectives, hold all 4 round 3 or after for the win) Round 1: Dino's won the roll of and having never had the pleasure of using Kroak i was keen to get him in on the action. First error i made which i feel bad for him but i have to be forgiven using unfamiler units and really quite new to AOS. Having used Slann in every game before i misunderstood that you could equip artifacts to your General so assumed i had LoSAT twice. So i sent Kroak on a mission. With his Arkunauts holding both his objectives and a Frigate each side and Ironclad down the middle i know from the past i had to just remove its movement as best i could. So i sent the Kroak on his merry way 9 away from Ironclad and his right Arkanauts. Using Cel Del and Comet's Call, i was able to firstly inflict 2 wounds to the Thunderers killing 1 and stopping the wounds to be passed off to them from the admiral. then 3 wounds to the ironclad 5 to the Admiral leaving them on 15 and 1 respectively (boy the ironclad takes some damage). With 1 spell left the choice was there, risk it for a biscuit and do the Meterioric Convacation and reduce the Ironclads movement enough to stop it appearing 9" away or kill the admiral. Thankfully sense took over and the arcane bolt on the admiral hit. Though my inexperience i then teleported Kroak back into a group of 5 guards and the eternity warden on top of a mound and cast balewind. Turn over for the Dinos and happy to have at least got rid of some buffs. KO turn, all 3 ships hit the skies and ended 9 away from my 2 x 5 guard, fronting my eternity, kroak, carno and skinks. This is the part i always dread when playing him, as the Ironclad heals 1 a turn and most of the time stays top bracket (i struggle to get past his 3+ save, or used to....). The guns on this thing are terrifying, and the people who twist about the bastilidons current 2D6 shots should just withstand a volley from this. He opened up with his big gun on Kroak and having cast reroll failed wounds, hit having rolled a 1 and rerolling due to fly. Wounded, (OMG D6 i really didnt want that). -2 rend, kroak knows its all about the 4 and rolls..... a 4. The rest of the guns from all 3 ships and the 4 remaining Thunderers took out 1 unit of 5 guard to the left on my right objective and did 5 wounds to Kroak of which i was able to pass on 3 to the Warden. Turn 2. Dammit, KO wins the roll off. Another barrage incoming. Same again only this time all his rifles targetted skinks with the thunderers killing 2 and the rest of the shots from everything else going over Kroak and the eternity Warder. I think he did a total of 7 wounds to Kroak from all 3 guns due to the nice 2+ base save. of which 3 got passed on killing the warden, or so he thought, rolling a 3 he comes back with 3 health. So happy to bide kroak some time for his turn. With 4 wounds on Kroak, he decided to charge my guard pulling my warden in aswell. He has to try to get at Kroak or get rid of at least the Warden. He bombed 2 off the unit of Guard and inflicted another wound to the warden. Taking 8 to one of his frigates and 3 to the ironclad in return (the Guard hit hard buffed and not moving). Dino Time... Kroak opens up his spells again this time casting Cogs first and Cel Del, Comit, Meteroric and Arcane bolt. He does 1 wound to his unharmed frigate, some to his other leaving it on 2 and some more to the ironclad leaving it on 10. Whilst they went off just the shear amount of wounds to shed seemed ridiculous and never ending. I then LoSaT Kroak out of there (way too hot for him) to the back left corner (another mistake as i should have put near my 5man guard unit within 6 of my left objective providing the 2+ not 3+. about to start my movement he reminds me "Hiding with Kroak (laughing sinisterly)". *Oooo hiding*, i had forgot about the cameleon skinks. So choosing a central terrain piece they came out of hiding to shoot his Ironclad for 2 more wounds. Things were looking rosey prior to the charge and with the size of the Carno i thought *in the bag*. He needed a 3 to get the ironclad in....rolled a 4. Yes, all looking good (i realise you all know what was about to come but i had no idea so enjoy the naivity with me.). He consolidates bringin the thunderers in aswell. Carno first, has to be. To big to not and having buffed all the saurus with what seemed like an endless pot of CP due to Kroak i have him the 2nd attack 6s. Limbs and both Jaws into Ironclad (should take a nice dint), and the blade into the thunderers......... 2 wounds to the Ironclad, saving both and nothing to the thunderers. My heart litterally sank. It is such a beautiful model with the most fearsome of poses, yet my skinks in that combat phase did more damage than him. 240points. Wow. Deflated my guard finished off his frigate and he finished off the Warden. The all important Round 3: To my dismay he rolls a 2 and yep you guessed it i rolled and egg. He points out to me that this is over as all he needs to do is kill my skinks and kill my left unit of 5 guard to hold all 3. So off he trots with his remaining frigate to 9 away from them (the high in the sky rule is very nice). KO takes first turn and shoots everthing from the ironclad into the carno and guards killing 0 guards and doing no damage to the Carno (without the admirals buffs and the gold having already been spent it just isnt as good without the reliable rerolls), however with the Thunderers shooting the skinks into oblivion it was all down to his last frigate to take the game. All shots on guard in cover, hits with his D6 cannon, no save. OH NO.... Rolls a 3. Thank you, they survive on 2. He then fails the charge and fighting it out on the other side kills the remaining guard and 2 wounds on the carno with a return of..... you guessed it, 0 wounds back on the frigate inflicted by my massive feral teddy bear. Dino Turn. Kroak goes nuts at the Carno and takes it on himself. He LoSaT back to Balewind and Cogs and unleashes everything he can. I think the only 1 i didnt get was his 2nd and 3rd hits on the Cel Del the rest all targetting mainly the ironclad destroying that, the thunderers and also the other 2 units having rolled a 12 on Comets Call (if thats the boardwide one). The thunderers take 2 wounds killing 1 and the ironclad is slain with the rest. The camo skinks then shoot his back objective holders killing 7 (these were great fun to use and i wish i could justify fielding them more). Into combat the Carno has to do things and takes 1 wound off the thunderers leaving 3 remaining 2 on full. 3 Rounds of fighting to do 1 wound. I was laughing so much in the end. We then took battleshock. having only lost 1 he needed a 5 or less for the thunderers not to run. Fantastic he rolled a 1 and was happy. However i pointed out that now the Carno rolls and if higher D3 run. I rolled a 3 and then a 5. Unit runs and we both laugh. His backfield unit that lost 7 run aswell leaving him a unit of 10 men on 1 objective in his end and 1 frigate on my back left. We roll off and i win this one for the double turn but decide to call it there knowing it was a lost cause for KO. This was the closest yet and although i made 2 big errors which he was nice enough to forgive, it felt quite well balanced due to my 240point teddy. It was nice to test different units for once as my local store is quite competitive listings even casually and i have to say with the exception of teddy i can see a use and enjoyed using all of the remaining. I do feel bad for the KO and the place they are in currently and hope this isnt what we can expect, but as with you all having read the community posts i feel we may not be quite that bad. (so much so i bought the stores last steg and preordered the terrain book and warscrolls before i left.) Bring on next Thursday to be able to use it all.....