Hey guys, Last night I had a rematch vs my friends' Skaven army. He totally revamped his list based on the help from the other thread (Link to other thread), and made only tiny adjustments to it. I decided for something new, and probably foolish, but I wanted to try the Skrox unit. My list was: (roughly) Scar-vet-General-LA-Sh-Cold one Scar-vet-BSB-LA-Enchanted Shield 10 skirmishers 20 Saurus St, Mu 24/3 Skrox St, Mu 6 chameleons 1 Salamander Basically my standard list, only with a unit of skrox instead of saurus. Just to test the unit. My opponents list: General: Warlord - Warlitter, Enchanted Shield, Talisman of Preservation, Blade of Corruption, Other Tricksters Shard. (For those of you counting, that is a 2+ AS, 4+ ward skaven with 4 attacks at strength 5 that have multiple wound 2 special rules and 4 attacks at strength 4 from the mount that still allows for an LoS roll when in a unit and any model in base contact must reroll successful ward saves. This guy eats heroes and lords for breakfast.) Chieftain - BSB, some minor magical items. Didn't matter. (If you read the original, he dropped the banner of eternal flame, it doesn't matter against me.) 25 Clan Rats - Shields and Hand Weapon, Musician, Standard, Warpfire Thrower 36 Slaves - Shields, Musician 35 Slaves - Shields, Musician 5 Giant Rats w/ 1 Packmaster (called a "rat dart", have your friend look up how to use them) 5 Giant Rats w/ 1 Packmaster 5 Gutter Runners - Poisoned Attacks, Slings (works similarly to our chamo skinks) 2 Warp Lightning Cannons Total: 1000 points Deployment: We had 3 pieces of terrain, they were 259m tall stone blocks. Just to make things easy about terrain He had a quite symetrical deployment: -----------------WFT Slaves-WLC-CL--Slave-WLC-GR-gutter runners --------GR ----------------------------------IMP cham --IMP------ Sala--Saurus--Skrox--imp--skirmish My chameleon skinks won the roll-off for scouts, and chose to scout near his 'soft flank', hoping to panic the rat dart (Small giant rat unit) and cause a chain reaction. He responded by placing his gutter runners there. My plan: Sala moves up to the left of the impassable terrain, frying as many rats as possible. If threatened, move back behind terrain or march past towards a WLC. 2 blocks move forward full speed, engaging ASAP. Chameleons&skinks, try to panic the giant rats, destroy the gutter runners and WLC on the right flank. Before swinging behind his lines to his other WLC (and warpfire thrower). His plan: engange my blocks with his slaves, redirect, shoot. Which is the point of his list I won the roll for the first turn, so away we went! Turn 1: I advance maximum speed with pretty much everything, bar the chameleons. They creep into range of the giant rats, and angle so that if they get charged by the gutter runners it would take the gutter runners of the battlefield. Shooting: My salamander fries 2 slaves, but they pass their panic. My chameleons cause 2 wounds....but the unit does NOT panic on a LD5....bummer! It would have been a very good first turn if the unit panicked, because the WLC and Gutter runners were very close. He responds by taking his clanrats (with both characters in it) to my salamander, and his slaves both go for the center. Effectively switching the left slaves and clanrats' positioning. His gutter runners don't charge the chameleons (he was afraid of a S&S->panic->of the board) and just wanted to hold me up. Which I was fine with, because I wouldn't have liked the charge! His very brave giant rat unit moves up a bit, the other unit marches full 12" and redirects my Saurus. Turn 2: Charges: My general (who was in the Saurus) solo-charges the redirecting giant rat unit, hoping to blow through in 1 turn and trying to hold down his Clanrat bunker, while the saurus warriors advance into the slaves. Well....this was a BIG mistake. I'll explain later on.. The Skrox unit manages a charge vs a slave unit (which was outside the LD&BSB bubble!). Skirmishers move up to shoot at the GR unit again. Chameleons stay put to shoot at the gutter runners. I nudge my Saurus warriors to the right a bit, because they were blocked by the general fighting the giant rats. Finally, my Salamander moves forward 12", towards his WLC and out of charge arcs. Explanation of the mistake: My general was fighting the rat dart in the flank, I was thinking he would tear them apart and go into the clanrat bunker, holding them up for a turn, maybe 2? so my combat blocks could engange his slave units, now that the bunker was out of position. To facilitate the second, my Skrox unit engaged 1 slave unit (already out of bubble) and my saurus nudged to the right, so they could get a clearer charge into the other slaves. I had to nudge them, because the general was fighting in the flank of the rat dart, so the unit got blocked. In addition to all this: I forgot that his general was a nasty warlord who was quite able to kill my general in combat...oops If I would have charged with the entire unit, I WOULD have gone trough the rat pack in 1 turn and just reformed to the slaves. Somewhat ignoring the CL unit (who was chasing the salamander). This would have been better, because the giant rats would have died instantly ánd the unit would have been free to do whatever it wanted. Now, you can probably tell what is going to happen... Shooting: cause another panic on the GR unit...they pass again. Also cause panic on the gutter runners, but again: panic is passed! I wasn't all too happy at this point, because my skink units should have cleared the soft (right) flank by now. Except they didn't because some very brave Giant rat unit stood in the way of things and also not causing any chain reactions in panic! His war machines were very safe for another turn... Combat: Now, here is where things got ugly. His slave unit kills 6 skinks! I manage to kill 7-8 slaves in return and ofcourse win the combat. He has to pass a Ld5 steadfast check (no BSB or general in range), if he fails: my skrox unit can overrun into his right-most WLC and out of the danger zone. But, like a a true pro: he passes. I know my opponent will read this, and will agree with the last sentence My general facing the ever-dangerous giant rats. He kills 2, but they hold. The unit holding was something I did not expect, he needed a 5 or 6 (with BSB nearby) and passed it on the first try. Uh-oh.. My opponent was delighted at this point, and rightfully so. Whereas his rats were in dissaray last game, everything was passing leadership checks like it was nothing! His other slave block indeed charges the flank of my Skrox. His Clanrat unit reformed to corner my salamander. The extremely brave giant rat unit got out of panic-chain-reaction-zone and into let-the-skinks-try-a-third-time-zone. Shooting was brutal, he shot into the combat with both Warp lightning cannons and his warpfire thrower. Killing lots of slaves, but equal if not more skinks and a kroxigor fell.* Combat was equally brutal: Many skinks died, I killed many slaves in return but not enough to win combat. I lost by 1, but stuck around. The redirecting giant rats lost 2 more of their number, but once again managed to hold! This had dire consequenses: My saurus unit had nowhere to go. They could not charge the giant rats, there was no room. They could not charge anything, in fact, because the incompetent general was fighting the elite rats! That in turn lead to my Skrox unit was alone, unsupported and had to face 2 more combat rounds vs 2 blocks of slaves and 1 full round of skaven shooting. ....Blast! Turn 3: Salamander goes out of the way again a bit, shoots some clanrats...nothing major. As explained above, the Saurus warriors had nowhere to go, but nudge to the right and hope for the best. And that is excactly what they did. Skirmishers finally (and convincingly) destroyd the rat dart on the right flank, enabling them to target the WLC next turn. The chameleons did their job, felling the gutter runners. Combat: My general finally destroys the giant rats, when he tried out his actual weapon, rather than a toy version of it. He reforms to face the Slave/Skrox combat. In that combat, my skinks are dying left and right...as are his slaves to my enraged BSB and Kroxigor. I win the combat, but he holds. Which was surprising, I had expected to break 1 unit of slaves by now. His turn 3: His clanrat bunker charges my salamander who flees, stays on the table and his bunker failing the charge. The salamander was cornered now, and if he rallied would face a charge next turn. Shooting: brutal again... 1 WLC misfires, but nothing happens. My theory on this cannon is that one of the slave units had some dwarves in them...and they just HAD to fix the machine when they walked by it. Dwarf nature, can't help it! The other shooting kills more skinks (down to 8 now), more slaves (down to...doesn't matter! now) and a kroxigor ) Combat: He kills 7 skinks, leaving me with 1. My BSB and Kroxigor are truly enraged, killing every single rat they could. I actually won combat, but again: he holds, needing a 5 for his flanking unit and snakey eyes for the other... Turn 4: I suggested to give up to start a new game, but there wasn't enough time. So I stuck in there, hoping to get some points back! My right flank skinks move into range of the WLC on that flank. Salamander rallies to face the clanrats. Saurus warriors attempts a charge at the slaves, but fail. General attempts a charge at the WLC...and makes it! shooting: I destroy his right-flank WLC by shooting. The chameleons doing the heavy work. Combat: With 1 skink, 1 kroxigor and 1 BSB left...I wasn't too pleased about the skrox unit. Still, they kill a lot of rats, at the cost of my poor, poor skink. everyting holds here. My general destroys the WLC (actually, the cold one does) forcing a panic on his WLC, which, naturally, passes. Boo.. He charges my salamander, killing it and the skinks before I can drag a clanrat down. He reforms to face the field. His shooting kills off all of my stuff, including my lone general by his warp-fire thrower. I complain about that thing...It's basically a salamander...only it is S5 and causes D3 wounds! Turn 5: My saurus warriors charge the clanrats, but fail. Shooting took care of both slave units, panicking them. They never rallied. And the warp-fire thrower also dies to skink fire...something got messed up in the turn sequence, but it doesn't really matter to the overall flow of the game. He is left with his clanrat bunker with both characters, they only lost a handfull of models to the salamander. So he charges them into my untouched Saurus warriors. Kills a couple, but they manage to put a wound on the warlord and kill some rats! Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. They break, but get away! Final turn 6: My saurus rally, to face another inevitable charge from the clanrats. The skinks do outstanding, felling 8 clanrats forcing a panic check! I don't have to tell you that they pass this one too...(although this one was less surprising). He indeed charges my saurus warriors again, killing 5! I only manage to do 3 in return and have to test for the game: The battle was tough, the devious rats had killed many brethren, Ixli thought. The tide of rats just wouldn't stop, engaging again and again. From the corner of his eye he could see some skinks, trying to save the depleted, tired saurus. It was to no avail, the rats kept on coming. With a roar, he cleaved a rat in two. It didn't matter, the rats were in between the ranks of the saurus..now in dissaray. The skaven warlord looked pleased as he crushed several lizards. It infuriated him. Not this time, he thought...not this time.. Snake eyes! In the end, I managed to pull out a very narrow draw. It felt like a defeat though... Post-battle afterthoughts: As mentioned, BIG mistake with the general solo-charging the giant rats. It cost me my Skrox and BSB. Which was half the points I had, basically. Thankfully, my skinks managed to do good stuff. Even after a slow start, because his rats just wouldn't budge. Taking a Giant rat unit, gutter runners, a WLC, warp-fire thrower, some slaves and several clanrats into account. Good hunting, afterall. The General wasn't too enthousiastic about this battle. Taking 3 combat rounds to slay the rat dart and his cold one having to kill the last crewmember of the WLC... His deployment was pretty solid, leaving no real gaps for me to exploit. The only thing that was 'bad', was the soft flank that could chain-reaction off the table. It didn't happen, but it's something to look out for. His movement was something I should just have dealt with, and did but for 1 giant rat unit. Shooting was brutal...WLC's only misfiring once, and rolling a 6. I was very happy to draw this game, keeping my streak (of not losing) intact. Barely! Post unit thoughts: Scale 1-10 General: 4. Pretty abysmal...His brave giant rats didn't help, but he should do more than that. Destroying the WLC is what prevents me from giving him a 3. Got killed by the Warpfire thrower. BSB: 7 1/2. He was very good, slaying loads of rats and only succumbing to shooting. Skrox: 2. Managed to hold out longer than I expected, with the rate the skinks fell...Still, I hereby vow never to use them as a center unit again. Even when I think "They're just slaves...". Even slaves kill skinks like true warriors. Kroxigor got killed by shooting, but did well. Skirmishers: 7. Slow start, meant he could shoot even more. But in the end, had a good day. Survived! Which is fairly new Chameleons or, as I shall call them now: The Untouchables: 8. Also had a slow start, but the extra BS works wonders. Survived again! Losing only 1 model. These guys take on the biggest challenges ('secure a flank') and always come out on top...brilliant! Salamander: 6. Didn't kill that many rats, but was a big enough threat to my opponent that he lured his bunker out of position. Failed charge against the WLC too, forgot to mention. Got killed by the warlord&gang. On the whole, it was a true slaughterhouse...which I never thought I could draw. I'm glad I stuck in, but am very disspointed in my 'generalship'. Skrox are not to be seen for a looong time, but the list as a whole works for me. Frustrating battle, with pretty much nothing working. We (opponent&me) always joke about his above-average dice rolling skills, and this battle was just that. Leadership test->passed. Almost instantly! Very happy to pull out a draw. *: how does randomising work? We didn't really know how shooting into combat worked with his WLC&WFT, so just went 50/50 on models that were hit. Could someone explain why this is wrong? (Please, add page numbers etc.) Thanks! Thanks a lot for reading through all this, and I hope to see you next time too! The Hunted
I always roll like dog crap except against this one guy who is a very good player, and he is not amused and refuses to play me XD
Great battle report and wow your opponent made some really lucky rolls, did he fail any of his LD-tests at all? I've also found the skrox a bit of a lackluster. They die to easy and don't dish out enough damage. Well the hing I see is the biggest problem is the skinks, you give your enemy to much "free" combat res with the skink wounds. Sure they soak up the wounds, but the key to winning close combat is to make the enemy fail their break test and you don't do that when skinks are dying to the right and left. The way I see that they could work is to buff them with flesh to stone. T6 skinks is nothing to laugh at and this makes the unit far more effective imo, but then again isn't the saurus needing the buff more? I don't think the unit has a place in small points game. They're a flank unit and should compliment your main force. I'm thinking of taking the kroxigors on their own and try if they succeed better. The problem is if you make the skrox unit to big it will get difficult to control, which makes them lose their point as a flanker. Oh one more thing, do you think you would have fared better if you would have exchanged a scar vet for a priest?