Okay, I got another game in.. this is my second since quitting Warhammer a decade ago, and my opponent was still new as well. She'd played a bit of 40k with me, but her first time playing fantasy. I took: Saurus Oldblood with Luckstone Skink Priest 2nd level Skink Priest with Plaque of Tepok 19 Saurus with command (and the Oldblood) 20 Saurus with command 10 Skinks with javelins 10 Skinks with javelins Salamander with extra handler She took: Vampire Lord with Forbidden Lore Necromancer with Opal Amulet 20 Skeleton warriors with command 40 Zombies with Musicion and Standard Bearer 20 Ghouls 2 Wraiths with a Banshee Priest #1 got Wind Blast and Comet of Casandora, Priest #2 got Chain Lightning and another spell (sorry, can't remember and it was never cast). Vampire took the Lore of Vampires, Necromancer took Danse Macabre. We were playing on a small table, and choose the Blood and Glory pitched battle. We each had a breaking point of 1, and 4 fortitude. There was really only enough room to put the units in a row, and we used no terrain (was more to get familiar with the basic rules). Deployment (left to right from my perspective) She had her ghouls with the necromancer behind them. Skeletons with vampire lord in the middle. Zombies on the right, with the wraith unit on the far right. I had a unit of skinks on the far left, saurus with oldblood left, the other saurus unit in the middle with a priest on each side of it, the other unit of skinks on the right, and the salamander on the far right. Turn 1 Vampires went first, everything moving forward. The vampire cast wind of death, killing 2 skinks, a saurus, wounding priest #1 and the salamander. At this point, I started thinking it may have been a bad idea to run the priests on their own. A 5 wound spirit host popped up in front of my rightmost skink unit. She tried for curse of years on my general's unit, but I dispelled it, and she then failed at an attempt to van hal's her spirit host into my skinks. I tried to charge my general's unit into the ghouls, but rolled too low and lumbered forward instead. The rest of my army moved forward. Managed to get 11 dice for the magic phase and started jumping for joy. Jumped a bit too soon, though... Priest #2 tried to summon up the power for a chain lightning, with 5 dice, and failed to make a 15. Thinking I'd try to get her to use up her dispel dice, and to see if I could keep them from getting the charge, the other priest cast wind blast at the ghouls. 2 dice, 2 6's. Lucked out that I rolled a 7 for the result and it did nothing but take out my remaining 4 dice (maybe the comet just wasn't meant to be). Shooting was minor, I killed a ghoul, a zombie, and my salamander snacked on 3 skinks. Turn 2 The spirit host charged the rightmost unit of skinks, the ghouls turned towards the threatening saurus with the oldblood. The skinks held their ground against the spirit host, hoping to prevent it from redirecting into a priest. Didn't do much good as the zombies managed a long charge roll against the salamander, which fled, redirected towards the priest, which also fled. Wraiths and necromancer moved forward slowly, the wraiths too far away from the vampire to march. Winds of magic were weak, 5 dice, but that didn't stop the vampire from unloading with another wind of death which my I failed to dispel. Luckily, the priests weren't hit, but I lost two more saurus, another skink, and another wound on the salamander. A 4 wound spirit host popped up in front of my general's unit. Gaze of nagash hit my other saurus unit, killing two more. In close combat, the 5 wound host killed 3 defenseless skinks who fled for their lives and were run down. The oldblood charged his unit into the new spirit host in front of him while the other saurus unit tried to charge the skeletons but didn't reach. Salamander and priest #2 rallied a few inches from the table edge. Magic worked out well for me this turn, as I started off with casting the comet of casandora and planting it about equal distance between the skeletons, zombies and wraiths. The newly rallied priest cast chain lightning at the necromancer, with irresistible force, and sent bits of necromancer bones and flesh in all directions. The lightning jumped to the skeletons, destroying 5 of them, then hit the ghouls for 1 kill. The skinks on the left kill another ghoul with their shooting, and the saurus with oldblood disperse the small spirit host with combat resolution. Turn 3 The zombies surge forward and charge priest #2, which stupidly holds. Again, was thinking he could tie them up and keep them from redirecting or overrunning into the salamander. The zombies were 5 wide, so a salamander breath down the front would've been perfect. The ghouls charge the oldblood unit, skeletons charge the other saurus unit. During the magic phase, the comet came crashing down. With a radius of 10 inches, it hit a lot.. total body count was 3 skeletons, 2 saurus, 2 wraiths and 10 zombies. The vampire tried to cast another wind of death, but failed. The zombies broke the priest and tore him apart. Salamander fails its panic test at the sight, and flees off the table (completely useless the entire battle). Between the vampire and his skeletons, they scored 8 hits on a saurus unit but not a single wound. The saurus hit a bit harder, killing 3 and crumbling another 2 with resolution. In the oldblood combat, he killed 4 ghouls, his saurus killing another 4, and the ghouls managed to drag down a single saurus. Combat resolution killed the last 9 ghouls and wiped out the unit. The lizardmen not engaged moved forward, but no new charges. I got another 11 dice wind of magic phase, used wind blast to push the banshee out of screaming range, cast an irresistible force upgraded comet and lost a level due to power drain. The vampire killed a saurus but the skeletons were again ineffective. The saurus killed 7 skeletons, destroyed the vampire with combat resolution, and that brought the vampire army to its breaking point. Victory Lizardmen: 650 to 210
Nicely done. Do you think you'll take a magic item in the future to deal with spirit hosts or was the idea just to chain lightning them? I've been contemplating taking tehenhauin just because I really don't like lore of heavens. But then again, he's as expensive as a slann.
I've been having real troubles in my games with spirit hosts. Probably will start using either fire or light against undead, so I can get decent attack spells, or have to add a magic item to each unit. That'll get costly quick, but might be the best option.