7th Ed. 1250 vs Brets

[The Hunted]

Last night I had a battle with my (proxy) lizzies vs The Brets.
We played at our normal points level: 1250 points.
Here’s the list I used:
Scar-Vet-LA-CO-BBoC-Maiming Shield (general)
Great for chopping up knights, -4 to AS and A5: yes please!
Scar-Vet-LA-Enchanted Shield-Sword of Might-BSB-CO
My standard BSB. Very good armor, more than solid attacking capabilities.

Core:
18 Saurus Warriors-Musician-Standard-spears
16 Saurus Warriors-Musician-Standard-spears
Had some points left at the end, so gave my Saurri some more bodies.
10 skink skirmishers
10 skink skirmishers
10 skink cohort
My standard supporting units, screening redirecting…etc…
Special:
4 terradons
6 Chameleon skinks
Rare:
1x Salamander w/extra handler
These are my added support units. Very good indeed

His list (AFAIK)
General, warhorse, 4+ward, grail vow.
BSB, virtue of discipline, warhorse, something fancy

Core:
8 KotR (with BSB)-FC
5 Errants-champ
2x13 Peasant Archers.
5 Pegasus knights, FC (OUCH!)
5 Grail knights (with general) FC

So,2 hard-as-nails lances. 26 arrows in support, and 5(!!) Pegasus knights… Let’s see how I faired.

Terrain setup:

-----------------------------SWAMP----------------------
-----Hill------------------------------------------------Forest

A hill, a swamp and a forest. I liked the way things randomized, he was happy too. So off we went!
Deployment: from left to right
Errants with Grail knights behind, Pegasus knights between hill and swamp. 1x archers behind swamp, KOTR, other archers.

Skink skirmishers and the cohort facing the errants and grails. BSB (alone), 18 Saurii+general, 16 Saurii, screened by skink skirmishers, Salamander and Terradons.
Chameleons scouted in the forest.

 

[The Hunted]

He prayed to receive a blessing (I HATE this save….he always seems to get it!)
I took first turn to get into a better position.
Turn 1:
My general fail stupidity….great. So moves up a little, the other unit moves also moves up 3.5” to keep the line intact. Left flank: Skirmishers and ‘normal’ skinks move up a bit.
Right flank: Terradons fly into forest, Sala moves behind forest. Chameleons sit where they are.
No magic, shooting or combat.

The brets make a general advance, the Errants moving on top of the hill, Grails on the flank next to it. Pegasus knights sweep to my right, but still behind his archers. KOTR move so they are in between the gap of the swamp and the forest. Archers on the right have nothing to shoot at (they weren’t that good deployed) so moved up 8”, trying to flush me out of the forest.
Shooting killed 4 skinks of my cohort, they were withing generals ld bubble and they passed their panic duly.

Turn 2:
I saw a good chance to bait his KOTR across the board. Since he was facing about horizontally across the field (with a swamp and a hill funneling him) I could move my chameleons in their face and sit there. If he would charge he had to have a VERY good overrun to escape being flanked. If they did nothing my 6 chameleons effectively took out a lance!
My line moves up more to be in range for a possible flank for sure! My skink screen moves out of the way. This was my first time with my own skinks getting in the way….oh well
On my left the skink cohort moves up to possibly redirect the grails. Skirmishers stay put, because else they will be charged by the grail knights.
In the forest: Terradons fly over KOTR and move back into the forest (H), killing 1 with rocks (4D3=5 hits…) and marchblocking!. Sala moves to edge of forest, shoots: and misses everything!

Brets have charges:
His Knights Errant into my (lone) BSB, I hold. His KOTR into my Chameleon, I S&S killing1!.
Rest of the movement consists of the grails now occupying the hill (instead of the Errants). And the Pegasus knights moving back to where they came from.
Right-flank peasant archers are now in the forest, forcing me to get out or to fight them.
Shooting was a dud.
Combat: Both combats are very interesting and I feel pretty good about it.
My BSB challenges his Errants, but the coward refuses! Thankfully, they have now lost their ward save. His 3 attacks (S6, because of errantry banner) do nothing, as do his horses. My BSB then tries to retaliate, but kills nothing. I lose by 1, but hold on Ld 7 cold-blooded reroll…I was sure of this to happen, and was sure that I could beat them without their charge bonuses. Also, there was no way he could get support in; which meant that the errants were at the unmerciful hands of my Scar-Vet.
His KOTR ofcourse trample my chameleons, pursuing them (fail to catch the last one , he can’t rally but still) but only pursue a mighty 5”. Bingo! My 16 Saurus now have a clear sight at his KOTR flank!

 

[The Hunted]

Turn 3:
My Saurii charge his KOTR flank, he pretty much has to hold (else he runs off the board). My general fail stupidity yet again! It does not matter though, he just stumbles forward. My left flank skinks move up, as the threat of a charge is now beyond their reach, so they try to get back into the fight. But can only move up 6”because of being marchblocked. Terries move so that they crossfire the KOTR (if the flee) and luring a PK charge (My plan was as follows: I beat KOTR, I auto-kill them, PK charge Terries-I hold- and he overruns into my Saurii. So I have his main threat locked in combat.
Shooting:
Salamander moves and fires up upon the Huge flank 13 archers in a line present. Killing only 3, despite the whole flame template running up the unit . Still: without knights nearby to guide them, the panic off the board: score!
My skink skirmishers on the right flank move up to get a shoot-out between his archers and my skinks.
Combat:
My BSB whacks 2 knights of their saddle. They hold.
My Saurri manage to kill 1 knight, he does nothing back. Here we had a bit of a rule issue: His BSB and standard bearer were not in combat like so:
BSB-Knight
Standard bearer – knight
Musician – knight
Saurus Warriors in flank

Do the KOTR get a combat resolution bonus for his BSB and standard?
His KOTR still break under the flank assault, I do not pursue (we don’t play with banners, yet). And my terradons crossfire his big lance: Score!

Brets have 2 charges: Grail knights into my General’s unit (the 18 Saurii+general one) and his PK into my Terries. I hold on both, although maybe I should have fled the terradons in hindsight…
Shooting kills 1 skirmisher in the shootout!
Combat: PK slam into terradons killing 2 outright and wounding another. My return attacks do nothing; I flee but get away! His PK pursue into my 16 Saurus Warriors.
His General challenges my general which I accept. The grail knights hit like a ton of bricks: killing 8 Saurii! My return attacks do nothing. General vs General: He does nothing, I do a wound in return!
I hold in this combat.
My BSB kills the last errants, and is free to roam the battlefield. (he can charge the flank of the GK-Saurri combat)

Turn 4:
BSB charges into Grails, skinks move up to try and crossfire. Terradons rally!, Salamander moves up to join the shoot-out with the skinks, but the handlers forgot his afternoon snack: he eats 3 handlers!
My skinks only manage one wound on his archers, but with their light armor protecting them; they all survive.
Combat:
PK kil 3 Saurus, I do a wound in return. I lose but hold steadily.
Grails kill 2-3 more saurus, His general wounds mine, but in return I finish him off. The BSB kills 1 grail knight. The unit holds.
overview:
Left flank: skink skirmishers and cohort skinks try to get into crossfiring position.
BSB+General+~8 Saurus vs 4 Grails. 12 or so Saurus in combat with 5 PK. 9 skinks shooting against 13 archers, sala in their flank. Terries behind forest, conserving VP and having done their job.
Shooting:
This time my Sala and skinks hit home, killing 10 out of 13 archers, sending the last 3 packing.
Combat:
My Saurus and Pegasi remain locked in combat, As do my heroes and the grails. One more knight is killed along with 3 saurus.

Brets: With only units in combat we move straight on!
Both sides hold, in both combats.

Turn 5:
He does a conditional surrender: He gets full VP for the Saurus spears his PK is fighting, and I get his grails (these things were bound to happen anyway). I agreed.
After counting the scores: I scored a Solid victory!
The turning point in the game came pretty fast, his KOTR being flanked and destroyed, my BSB holding his errants. I then lured his Pegasus Knights into combat, which I knew I could hold. The grails then had no other target but my generals unit, and hit home.
When I held my ground in both combats, I knew I had it. He lost his lance bonus, and my troops were warming up! Although his Pegasus knights had some form of uber-armor as my spears could not get a wound through after the first…not even after forcing him to make 7 S4 saves!
This time, ALL my core skinks survived! No VP were scored on them. Which is the first time in all my battles
The sacrifice my chameleons made was totally worth it, without their scouting ability I couldn’t do this trick. My terradons did multiple things:
-March blocking the KOTR (this wasn’t of great important but it was handy)
-Crossfiring the Knights of the Realm, this was critical. A full lance with BSB destroyed in one go!
-luring the PK for a charge, thus overrunning them into my SW and THUS locking them in combat.
I love them!

My skink skirmishers and the cohort didn’t do anything of importance really. The salamander panicked 2 archer units off the table, which was nice.
It was a good day for the lizardmen!

The Hunted