Hey guys, Last night I played vs my Brettonian opponent again. We decided to go for 1500 points, so without further ado; the army lists! Lizardmen army list: Scar-Vet, General, CO, Sh, Glittering Scales, Sword of Striking. Scar-Vet, BSB, CO, Sh, Crown of Command, Luckstone. 26 Saurus Warriors, FC 27 Saurus Warriors, Spears, FC (general here) 10 Skink skirmishers 10 skinks 6 chameleon skinks 6 SCOR, Musician 1 Salamander+ extra snack No Slann, because we both like to duke it out in the combat phase Brettonian army list: Paladin, General, Mundane stuff, Virtue of Stoicism, grail vow. Paladin, BSB, Mundane stuff, Banner of the lady 14 Knights of the Realm, FC (BSB) 6 Knights Errant, FC, Errantry Banner 36 Men-At-Arms, FC. 16 Peasant archers 16 peasant archers 5 Grail knights (General) I like playing against the brets, because if you make a mistake...you will get punished. But if you don't make mistakes, then they are pretty beatable. Setup was as follows: -----KE-KotR--M@A---Archer1---Grails---Archer2 ---Woods--------------HighHill------------------Smallhill (chameleons in the woods) COR-Sala-Skinks-Spears-HW&S---Skirmishers---- Basic game plan: SCOR go around the side, make the Errants take an 'impetuous' test. Hope they fail it (and the charge) and then countercharge to beat them. Sala is either used as a way to decimate the peasants or 1 good shot on the KotR and as redirector. My BSB will detach from his unit and force the play on his grails. I will advance him, he will advance his grails+general and I will charge this unit and challenge them out, while holding on my Stubborn 8+re-roll. My 2 Saurii blocks will deal with the peasants and KotR. Skinks, chameleons and skirmishers will take pot shots and redirect wherever needed. Sooo, I was feeling pretty confident, but I did not like that large KotR unit facing me. No way I was taking a charge from that thing! Ofcourse, being brettonian: he kneels to the lady! I choose to take the first turn. Lizardmen turn 1: SCOR move into charge range of the KE. Salamander and skink unit move up. My blocks shuffle forward a bit, the BSB moves forward to taunt his grail knights and my skirmishers also move up somewhat. No shooting, no magic, no combat. Bret turn 1: He charges his KE into my SCOR, but fails the charge! So far so good on that flank. His M@A and KotR swap places, so he has more space to move his KotR around the field. Grails move up, now well within charge range of my BSB! His archers move up a bit to get some shots off. Shooting: He kills 3 saurus warriors. No problem. No magic, no combat. Lizardmen turn 2: My SCOR charge into his KE, they make it in without a hitch. My BSB charges his Grail knights, easily making the charge. The Salamander goes for single shot+redirect on the KotR, setting up around 12-13" in front of them. The Saurii units behind the salamander move up to capitalize on any unit that charges the Sala, they form up a classical 'V'. So if he overruns into 1, the other unit will get the flank . I am now feeling very comfortable about the center. I have his KotR pretty much under control, he can do whatever he want....but it will all be bad for him Left flank is now: SCOR vs KE in combat. Center: Skinks are ready to get in the way, M@A and KotR facing my Sala redirector and 2 saurus blocks. Right flank: My BSB in combat with his grail knights. And there were some peasant archers around...but I wasn't scared of them Shooting: Salamander really outdoes himself, killing 5 knights! I was expecting anywhere between 1 and 3, but killed double of what I expected! They dont panic. My skinks fail to do anything worth noting. Combat: the SCOR vs KE combat goes down first; his knights fail to do anything, but ofcourse a horse kills one of my dudes...My cavalry does not let me down and kill 2 knights. He loses combat, breaks and is killed in the pursuit (double 6's on the pursuit ). Score! My BSB challenges (to reduce incoming attacks), every grail knight may accept (They are all champions). But his General steps up to the plate...He fails to wound my Scar-Vet after I use my luckstone. In return, I kill his General! That was a bit unexpected for both of us. My intention was to hold the unit in place and kill a knight here and there. Instead, I have already killed his general and am winning combat! His elite knights hold their ground.. Bret turn 2: He does not want his big KotR unit anywhere near my 2 blocks, so he does not charge. His M@A do charge the salamander, who holds (blocking any movement forward for the KotR). KotR turn around to go after my SCOR. Shooting kills a couple Saurii again. Combat: My BSB challenges again, this time he sees my plan and is in a rough spot. If he keeps accepting the challenge, I will just kill that knight and move on to the next...He has very little chance of wounding/breaking me. If he declines, he will get more attacks but lose his ward save. He thinks about it for a while, then decides to go for it and declines my challenge! In that combat, he fails to do anything with his grails and my BSB continues his rage: slaying 2 grail knights! He wins combat again and this time the grail knights have had enough...they flee and get run down by my 2 6's on the pursuit . His M@A barely kill the Salamander, but the skink handlers manage to hold their ground . This wasn't really of any importance, but it sure was another slap in the face for him... Lizardmen turn 3: Both my Saurus units charge his Men-At-Arms, knowing that Knight support is a 2 turns away (possibly more, I can still redirect!). The BSB is now free to annoy somebody else and moves behind the archers while keeping LOS to his KotR. My cold one knights are...doomed. They cannot get out of charge range/LOS from his big lance, so they stand as far away as possible, hoping for a failed charge. Shooting: Maybe my skinks drop a few archers, nothing really worth noting. Combat: M@A kill my skink handlers and 2 saurus spears. But then my Saurus Warriors go to town..and boy did they go to town...I think I killed 15 or so peasants! Needless to say, his poor Men-at-arms are not capable of dealing with this punishment (also: no steadfast anymore) and break. Both my units pursue, there was no advantage in holding my ground*. I run them down and am now facing 1 of the archer units with my spears. Bret turn 3: His KotR charge my Scor, easily making it in... archers shuffle&shoot, killing a few saurii yet again. His KotR fluff their attacks, killing a paltry 2. My Remaining knights manage to wound his BSB before they break and flee off the table. His KotR reform to face the center again. Lizardmen turn 4: My spears charge his archers. I set up my entire army to face his KotR. They are now down to 9 knights + a wounded BSB. I could hold the charge with any of my saurus blocks and then countercharge to destroy him. No worries for me... I slaughter the arcers, they break&flee and are unable to rally. I reform to face his KotR. (killing WS2, T3 troops with no armour is fun times for my Saurii!) Bret turn 4: He reforms to face my chameleons and skinks who were taking some shots at his knights. He does not want to go near my infantry, so tries to get some points back. His remaining archers kill 8 skink skirmishers! They don't panic though, my general was close enough. Lizardmen turn 5: By now, the outcome isn't really in any doubt. Unfortunately, I cannot kill his KotR. My infantry is too slow to do so. My skinks get into safe havens, denying him those points too. I go after his other unit; the last archers. I can kill them on my turn 6. Bret turn 5: Shuffles his knights, shoots with the archers. Lizardmen turn 6: Charge his archers with my BSB+Spears+General. The outcome was never in any doubt... Bret turn 6: None. Victory for the Lizardmen! He killed: Salamander SCOR 1/2 skirmishers I killed: 16 peasant archers 16 peasant archers 36 Men-at-Arms 5 Grail knights 6 Knights Errant General 1/2 BSB My plan worked out perfect! the SCOR got the Knights errant, my BSB really went to town on the grails and my saurus blocks worked in a solid tandem, scaring his KotR off. Unfortunately, my skinks, skirmishers and chameleons didn't really get to do anything usefull. I did not need them in this battle for redirecting, as I had it under control from turn 2 onwards. The best part was to see both my blocks slaughter his poor peasants, loved that! I really like my BSB's setup. He's very tough to kill for S3/S4 troops, as long as he doesn't have to face a whole lot of attacks he's damn near unbreakable. The General is also solid, the +1 to hit really helps killing lowly peasants, but also on hitting elite heroes/troops. My saurus tandem is great as always, I have no need to change them anytime soon. Supporting cast (skirmishers, chameleons, skinks) usually does more than today, but their time will come. Salamander was crucial in the center. Not only because of his kills, but his position really gave me control of the game. SCOR are good. I really like them. They can play 'cavalry denial' very well. Setup juust inside the enemies charge range, taunting them. If he inches forward...you move some inches back. If he forces you to charge, no problem: charge. That way, you can deny your opponent the charge bonus from his knights. Ofcourse, this only really works when his knights are more expensive than yours. But it is also usefull if you have no way of dealing with fast, high-armoured cavalry. All in all, it was a good day for the lizardmen and me Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! The Hunted
Very well written battle repport!!! Looks like you and your friend had plenty of fun! Your plan looked good on paper and seems like the Lady (Luck ) was on your side for this battle!
Thanks , glad you liked it. I'm pretty sure my plan was good. Even if lady luck would not be on my side I think I could have prevailed. The right flank (BSB vs grails) I was very confident once I got into combat. Even the dice could do little the frustrate my game-plan there. Left flank was very dicey (who gets the charge!?), but slightly in my favor as long as I didn't go stupid. With the knowledge that both flanks are pretty secure (and I could deal with 1 collapsed flank), it was my center I was the most worried about. But after the salamander-play and his reaction to it, I knew I had it. And that felt good, knowing you have full control in an early turn. The Hunted
Confused about the Salamander handlers sticking around to keep fighting after the Sallie died. Did I read that right?
My opponent only killed the Salamander (as the skinks hide behind him as long as he lives). The skinks lost by a lot, by managed to pass their brake test (on a 3, within range of the General's leadership bubble). IIRC they don't get auto-destroyed when the Sala is killed, or maybe I just failed at that... Help is appreciated Was the rest of the report clear enough? The Hunted
Yeah, I think under the rules the skinks are just considered wound markers, and while they get to fight, they are not considered separate from the Sallie. Not sure if this comes from the Monsters & Handlers section, the Lizardman FAQ or elsewhere...
Good battle report. I like the tactics used it was well thought out. One point that I'm fuzzy on. I think there can only be 1 challenge issued per close combat, so yes your scar vet could have issued the 1st challenge but not the 2nd one. Unless I am reading the rule completely wrong. Great report though
You're right, this comes from the Monsters&Handlers section. The handlers are indeed just wound markers, and if they are in the way (LOS/charge lane) just get them out of the way. They can attack anything in base contact with the sallie. When the sallie is removed, so are the handlers. But did you know this: I sure didn't! From the BRB: So again, you're right. It's funny how much you actually don't know, once you start reading all the rules completely... Ah well, the handlers only helped my opponent by giving him some wounds and denying my saurus warriors to be fully in base contact. The BSB/grails/challenge part....I think I still would have won there, but it would have been harder. In the very end, it would not have mattered, my plan was simply too solid for that . Thanks for the replies and sorry for the late response! The Hunted