The air smelt of sweat and steel... Something was wrong.. Elmquasmash drew in a deep breath, searching for the scent of the intruders. His head turned sharply towards the entrance of Turtle Island's hidden vault of the lost gods. Dwarves. He recognized that smell; the stink of lust and greed. Cold fury bubbled deep inside him as he charged through what should have been a closed door. A bellow of pure rage escaped him as he entered the vaults of the Old Ones. "They can't be far," he thought to himself. As agile as a cat he shot from the once sealed room towards the deep encasing jungle outside. He let out a soft chirrup that seemed to echo through the mountains beyond, then he sat in wait. What seemed like seconds later, he heard movement through the almost solid wall of trees and vines. His comrades were not far behind him. Two enormous Kroxigors pushed trees apart as small Skinks scampered past trying not to die beneath the Kroxigor's feet. Large croaks and growls that sounded oddly like loud belches announced the arrival of a pair of Salamanders. Elmquasmash's hand chosen Knights sat at the ready next to a small mass of golden-clad Saurus Warriors. He gave a bellow of command and set off at a swift run towards the coast with his fellow Lizardmen in pace behind him. They ran through the jungle by what seemed a well known path, though none could be seen. At the foot of a large tree covered in moss he halted. He growled softly and out of the air fell what appeared to be a small pistol forged of the finest steel. Silently and almost completely invisible, a gecko-like creature lowered itself from the tree. It issued soft purring noises from its throat and as soon as it had communicated its news, Elmquasmash grunted his understanding, and the Chameleon-like creature silently ran ahead with what appeared to be a handful of shadows from the trees following in his wake. With a low his there appeared an enormous Leopard as white as snow. It quickly moved to join its master and in one smooth motion Elmquasmash raised himself onto the solid gold saddle. He signaled for all who were able to follow to do so and set off on his faithful friend. They ran as fast as their legs would allow them, cutting through the jungle as if it were nothing more than an open plain, Winterfury carrying Elmquasmash as if he were nothing more than a young Skink. The air grew less thick and a salty odor reached the enraged Lizard's nostrils... A salt mixed with sweat and steel, and the unforgiving smell of greed... With a below of anger Elmquasmash crashed out of the forest in such a rage that even the mighty Stegadons would have cowered in fear. His line of scaled warriors reached him on his right side and they quickly drove across the beach toward the much startled Dwarves. The Old Ones will have revenge this day... Pitched Battle between my brother and I. I didnt really have my pieces put together so we kept it at just 1,000 pts. I had: Elmquasmash Oldblood on Horned One (Winterfury) with Light Armour and a Greatweapon Unit of 19 Saurus, no command 16 Cohorts with two Kroxigors 5 Cold One Knights 6 Chameleon Skinks Salamander w/extra Handler Salamander w/extra Handler Opponent had: Organ Gun Large unit of Warriors (40 I think with the champion as his General) Large unit of Thunderers (around 32ish) Both units had full commands. I advised him against taking such large units but he didnt care. It was more of a friendly i-havnt-played-my-brother-with-8th-edition-rules-yet attitude kind of game, but that didnt stop the Lizards from pounding every last bit of warm flesh into the ground as they could! There was no terrain to speak of and it was a little of a disadvantage for him but the board was not very wide and as his army was more than 50% shooting it made things a bit of a mess to work with for him but his units were so wide that we couldnt play the board lengthwise or I would have never been able to get to the flanks either.. Hopefully we'll get a larger gaming board soon or next time we will head to the local hobby shop. Deployment saw him with Organ Gun in the middle, Thunderers on his right side and the Warriors on his left. I had my General all the way to my left, alongside the Skrox unit, then the Salamanders on either side of my block of Saurus Warriors with the Cold One Knights bringing up the flank. I put my Chameleons right in front of his Organ Gun as close as I could and hoped for 1st turn And I got it!! To Make a long story short (actually a short story even shorter) we saw my whole army move up, take a wound off the organ gun with handy Chameleon firepower, then they tucked tail and ran as they got Thundered by the Thunderers and Organed by the Organ gun. Poor choice on my opponents part. I'd have ripped holes into the Skrox and Saurus blocks but thats just me Then next turn saw the Skrox charge the Thunderers and Elmquasmash run into their flank. After two rounds of combat the Skinks killed a total of 1 Dwarf and all 16 of them managed to die (But I forgot the armor save AND the ward save from HW and shield in the first round :/ ) and only one wound was put onto a Kroxigor. The Oldblood was never wounded (toughness 5 1+ armor save is a lot to deal with for just a s3 shooting unit) and managed to dispatch 7 Thunderers by himself. The two Kroxigors were able to smash six more warriors into the ground. On the other side of the battlefield the warriors took 5 casualties from Salamander spit and then charged into the Saurus Warriors (Holy crap he rolled 11 inches totaling 14 for the charge I've never seen dwarves run so fast unless there was food and beer involved!!) and with 24 attacks from his horde (my guys were only 5 wide) he managed to kill a total of 1 warrior Oh I love these tough little brutes!! They quickly hit back and crushed some 5 Warriors but still lost combat by 1 point and held. Next saw the ending of the game as two Salamanders and the Cold One Knights crashing into the Warriors causing massive panic and allowing my Cold Ones to catch them and after pursuit they managed to realize that they were standing right in front of the Organ Gun.... *Facepalm* Dwarf turn saw that whole unit blowing up.. Then after the Thunderers realized that the Oldblood could not be killed and the Kroxigors were much taller than they were, and the Organ Gun crew saw three enemies point in its direction, my opponent conceded. Oh happy day, the Lizardmen pretty much ate through his army. In hindsight I think that it would have been a lot closer of a battle had we been space out just a tad bit more at the start, and had he chosen better targets than just a unit of 6 Chameleons. They made their points just bu taking the Organ/Thunderer's attention IMO. I made two mistakes in deployment and I now realize that Skrox are NOT an anvil that should charge right into a horde with 24 possible attacks The Kroxigors can handle it but the Skinks... The Salamanders should have moved out to the Flank (I had one flame shot completely arc over a horde unit... I scratched my head wondering how you can miss 40+ models like that...).. A good learning battle and I'm glad it was with my bro where things are a little more friendlier.. People usually dont like losing by the end of 4 rounds (two turns)... ...Steadily rising to his feet, Elmquasmash released the Dwarf's head that was smashed in his claws. He gazed across the beach at his fallen comrades and at those that still remained standing. Their lives were worth the treasures that will soon be restored to their resting place. Elmquasmash slowly re-mounted his giant leopard and rode back into the jungle, followed by soldiers laden with the Ancient treasures of the Old Ones. As they slipped into the darkness of the jungle a single Dwarf razed his head from the sand. Unsure of what had really happened was real or a dream, his head fell back into the sand as exhaustion consumed him. He quietly fell into a sleep from which he would not return.. A place where he would find peace.. And the only place in the world and without that he would find protection from the fury of Elmquasmash...
Thanks I Wrote it in about thirty minutes because I wasnt at my house to do everything but my future reports will have all the turns fluffed up with a story line to the Mighty Elmquasmash to go along with it! I'm sure people will wonder how a 'Horned One' equates to having a Lizard that rides on a Snow Leopard... All in good time these things will be explained