This is a list I'll be trying out tonight about Vampire Counts and High Elves. I'll let you know how it goes! Scar-Vet Additional Hand Weapon Venom of Firefly Frog Armour of Fortune Skink Priest Level 2 Dispel Scroll 15 Saurus, FC 15 Saurus, FC 10 Skinks 10 Skinks 10 Skink Skirmishers Stegadon Salamander /w Snack Salamander /w Snack Wish me luck!
Good Luck! You can take the VC no problem. I worry about HE all the time. That reroll to hit is nasty!
The stegadon's impact hits will be useful against HE. However, your Saurus units are... a bit... small.
I return! Sorry about the wait, I shall try to be as accurate as memory allows. We didn't take notes. Also, I forgot to mention the Priest had the Diadem of Power, making him quite the defensive caster. I never ended up playing the Vampire Counts, as he and the High Elf player had had a couple games to get the HE up to speed on 8th, so he just wanted to finish painting his Grave Guard. So, my two games vs HE went thusly: Game 1: Turn 2 Massacre High Elves 15(I think) Lothern Seaguard 10 Swordsmasters 10 Archers Bolt Thrower Two Mages One Super-Monster Prince on Foot in the Seaguard. He deployed statically, waiting for me. Not wanting to play by his plan, I plopped a comet right onto his Swordsmasters and Seaguard, which caused him to advance. My Skink Skirmishers killed the bolt thrower on turn 1 (Never deploy right on the line!) and then hid in some woods to continue peppering his archers. My Salmanders worked better then they ever had, and tore his infantry apart. By my second turn, I'd ruined him so badly he gave up the game without a single round of close combat fought. My Saurus were disappointed. For the next game, myself and the VC player suggested he drop one of the mages for more troops. He did so, changing the Seaguard for 24 Spearmen and adding in 10 Phoenix Guard. From left to right he had: Mage, alone - Phoenix Guard - Spearmen Bunker - Swordsmasters - Archers - Bolt Thrower. I had Stegadon - Saurus with Cohort in front - Priest, Alone - Salamander - Saurus with Cohort in front - Salamander - Skirmishers. There was a lot of terrain, with a hill dominating the centre. Not a lot of lines of shooting for either of us. One the Right my Salamander took cover behind a small hill, lining himself up to fire on the Infantry while avoiding both the bolt thrower and the Archers. My Skirmishers moved forward as well, getting in such a place they could shoot the archers but avoid the bolt thrower. My second Salamander ended up moving right, because I deployed him poorly and things were going to be too congested. The rest of the line advanced, with the Steg keeping pace with the left-hand Saurus whose Cohort went forward to occupy some trees and the centre Saurus doing the same as their Cohort moved to the base of the large central hill to avoid shooting. My Priest was boring, firing off a Thunderbolt at his mage. He advanced, returning fire with his archers to my Skirmishers to middling effect. They hold. The rest of his line advances, Phoenix Guard towards left Saurus, Spearmen at the Centre and Swordsmasters to the right, where there is no infantry, only two Salamanders waiting for him... His Mage shoots some magic missile at my Priest, and the Duel is on in earnest! 1 wound on each side! My Skirmishers duck into some trees right beside his Archers. They then spend the rest of the game shooting at eachother. My last turn I reduce him to 1 unit, giving his bolt thrower room to destroy them. They made their points back. There's some positioning and moving about, and my Salamanders begin roasting his Swordsmasters, something they will enjoy for a few turns. A dismal magic phase sees me pocketing two dice for the dispel phase. My Steg shoots and kills a Phoenix Guard! Combat! His Phoenix Guard charge into the forest, obliterating my Skinks and overrunning into my Saurus - exactly to plan. His Spearman Prince Delivery System does the same, but I've angled my Cohort so that there's only rocks in front of him so he's forced to reform and take the charge from my Saurus /w Scar Vet. The Duel continues, with no other magic affecting the game. Saurus and Phoenix Guard fight, with no big result on either side. The Swordmasters fail a charge against one of the Salamandrs Stegadon Charges the Phoenix Guard! This and the Saurus prove to be enough to Break them. Saurus Charge Spearmen. It's an uneventful combat, with my Scar Vet not doing as well as I hoped. The Salamanders shoot up the swordsmasters some more! His Mage miscasts, killing himself and my Priest. We laugh. He has managed to whittle down my Saurus a bit. My first unit of Saurus are nearly defeated... but they hold. One salamander loses all handlers to the Bolt Thrower, gaining frenzy. The Salamander charges, and is joined by the other in the flank. The first is killed, the second flees, but rallies on the next turn and manages one last shot in the final minutes. The Steg charges but the Saurus are killed and the Scar Vet breaks. In the end, my second Saurus get stuck in and with the stegadon break them. They pursue and end them. The three remaining Swordsmasters charge the steg, die on the second round of combat. Both armies are reduced to nearly nothing, but victory was declared for the Lizardmen! I'll cross-post this into Battle Reports, and answer your question about my Saurus unit size when I have some time. Hope you enjoyed!
Gratz on the win. At higher points levels the skink chief with warspear is awesome at taking out HE. 2d6+1 impact hits for the win! And a monstrous blowpipe 4d6 shots with no multi-shot modifier.
Since I'm building my second Steg with the EotG.... I'll just need a third! Though in my group I could probably proxy one steg for another.... but... three stegadons!
As to my choice in Saurus unit size, it mostly came down to the size of the game and my playstyle. I like being able to move around and react to things, so two units is better. Saurus are expensive, and for 1250 I wanted decent shooting and some redirectors, but also needed that Stegadon for some punch. This lowered the unit size, which I've found can still be quite effective. 15 Saurus with command gets a decent rank bonus, though it admitedly disappears after one casualty but that's just something you need to deal with. It pumps out 16 S4 attacks a phase which doesn't get reduced till the sixth casualty, which is quite solid against most things you'll find. Their survivabilty can't be underestimated either, at T4 and +4 armour save, their resistant to a lot of shooting and when armed with HW as I tend to, they get the Parry save as well. Plus, their cold blooded leadership 8 means they're unlikely to run unless they're against elites that are butchering them. All that is great, but less effective in unit sizes of only fifteen... unless you have two of them. Then the enemy needs to either focus on one to take it down to manageable size before Combat, which leaves another full strength unit, or they have to split the fire leaving two mostly effective units. Since my Skink cohorts tend to screen and take a bit of the shooting, 15 Saurus still remains a solid threat with the backup of a Stegadon and the shooting of a Salamander or two.