My list was probably not optimal but we were playing WYSIWYG, so I had to field what I had. I ended up fielding: Slann Focus of Mystery Focus of Rumination Cupped Hands 2x Power Stone BSB Skink Priest lvl 2 2x Dispel Scroll Engine of the Gods Saurus Scar Vet CO LA SoSR Shield 18 Saurus Spears Standard 10x Skink Skirmisher 10x Skink Skirmisher 10x Skink Skirmisher 5x COC Standard 7x Chamelon Skinks We had played a 1300 point battle prior to this one a few weeks before, and it had gone well for me, but at the 2000+ level I was introducing models I'd never used. I.e. my Slann, as well, I would be facing a lot more in the way of Lich Priests, Tomb Princes and Kings. We started by placing terrain and I decided to try to take advantage of my Skinks Aquatic ability and I placed a lake on the right side of the board (all directions are from my perspective). I started placing some hills in the back field of his board. All said by the time we had placed our armies and terrain this is what we were looking at: Not ideal in some situations. The river sorta hamstringed me, because I could not deploy my Saurus in the center like I'd wanted. Which left me with a weak right flank. He placed a ruined tower (impassable) near me too to be friendly.. Fortunately the water covered the majority of that side of the battlefield and his units didn't want to get their feetsies wet. I was able to deploy my Chameleons behind his lines in the trees just barely getting to the required 10" away. Then I rolled for magic. I chose Lore of Fire for my Slann so he took every spell thanks to Focus of Mystery. With my EotG I rolled a 5 and 6 and ended up taking the two spells. In retrospect I would have traded the comet for Portent of Far as the one comet I cast never went off the entire battle and likely would have wiped out the entire field due to it's size lol... First turn I moved the Skinks into their respective covers and one unit to screen in front. The Chameleons made a move through the woods to the middle of the forest. My Saurii tried to overcome the distance by marching up the side and the Cold ones supported their movement. My Slann and his body guard moved away from the enemies he had hidden behind me. During my magic phase I hit his casket with Conflagration of Doom and with my banehead came within 1 wound of killing it outright on the first turn. Unfortunately that was as close I was able to get it as he used his entire magic phase to heal it. Which I suppose was still beneficial because then he wasn't using any offensive magic against me. I cast a comet with the eotg but was unable to get it to land the entire game. During my shooting phase I was able to use some poison attacks against his unit of archers on the right side by the lake, I took them down 5 models very quickly. There was no close combat that turn. ----------------- On his turn he healed up his casket and took some pot shots at my temple guard with his archers. He hit several of them but was unable to inflict any wounds. They were carrying The Sun Standard of Chotec in their unit as well as having a pretty good armor save, they also had the Engine of the Gods Ward save against ranged attacks helping them out. He moved some units up. The Chariots came up the middle to just in front of the little forest, the Temple guard moved up as did his scorpions a bit. The scorpion on the left near my chameleons moved in to the forest to attempt to goad them out. ------------------ During my movement phase I kept my chameleons out of combat.. sure they weren't killing anything but they were tying up his scorpions. I was able to do some more significant damage during my magic phase this time around. Wall of Firing a unit of 15 archers spread out in a firing line. He had one rank set up and I lit up 11 of them instantly. The Priest with them also took a wound. My Engine kept up the ward save and used Uranon's on the chariots dealing a few wounds do them but not killing anything. During my shooting phase I was able to launch 40 poisoned attacks against his chariots from two units of skinks which I rolled very well on and finished them off. It was fairly exceptional rolling. I was rolling groups of ten and rolled 6 sixes in my first 10, then another 5 in the second, with a little bit more down to earth numbers in the third and fourth rolls. My skinks on the right in the lake took some more shots at the archers and managed to kill another 3 or 4. Still not close combat but my Saurus and COC were getting closer. ---------------------- During this phase of his turn he finally charged me. He hit me with his Ushabit, Bone Giant and 2 Scorpions all crashing into my temple guard at various angles. This combat lasted for 3 turns, and while I took heavy casualties, and didn't inflict that many - although several wounds were on each model, I was able to hold out with an anvil that refused to break. Over the course of the fight the Temple Guard were reduced to 10 from their original 20. Including the Revered Guardian in the front rank. It was a loss of about 175 points of units, but held off over 600 points dealing plenty of wounds and giving me time to both cast spells from my Engine and Slann, as well as bring around my COC in time to flank and destroy his bone giant. Throughout the whole melee in the middle I was casting Burning Alignment on his troops and managed to deal several wounds as well to the Ushabti, Bone Giant and Scorpions which in turn forced him to use more magic on healing them rather than attacking me. I kept casting wall of fire on his troops which continued to do an excellent job of thinning their ranks and I managed to destroy his Temple Guard, I finished off his two units of archers, the scorpion that had been chasing my chameleons, and his Bone Giant. I took a few more losses from his Screaming Skull Catapult, and every time I tried to Conflag it he scrolled my spell. I found out after wards he was using 4 Dispel scrolls in his list. All told, after I killed his Bone Giant and his Ushabti were about to die. All he had left on the table was he wounded units in melee, his casket of souls, his King and Catapult. I still had 15 of my original 18 Saurus. All my Cold Ones including the Scar Vet. 10 of my original 20 Temple Guard, My Slann, My Engine, and about half my Skinks which he'd taken Archer shots and Catapult shots at. He called the game and fled the field. --------------------- Probably the only thing I would have changed besides having a few different units, like some Terradons or Salamanders, would be the ability to put the Saurus in the middle of the Board. They never inflicted any casualties and their usefulness was restricted by their movement speed to being catapult victims. Fortunately they only took 3 casualties, but the river that got placed off the lake really screwed me up for placing in the middle of the board. I placed it myself hoping to use it as a block to stop him from flanking me, but it turned into a liability and in hindsight I would have forced the river onto his side of the board or ditched it entirely, for maybe another chunk of forest or other cover. Had I been able to actually use my Saurus I would have destroyed his scorpions. He also realized after the battle he should not have charged with all his heavy units first, and would have led with his Tomb Guards then flanked more with his big nasties.. He didn't though so that helped me too.. Two offsetting mistakes I guess.. Ultimately most of the time he was unable to beat my armor saves, and the heavy hitting nature of the Lizards prevailed. Wall of Fire was EPIC, which reinforces my love of Slann.. However I one day want a list with an Old Blood on Carnosaur.
Thanks for the report! I am glad you came out with a victory and very happy to have read the report. Now I have some ideas when I face TK myself.
was this list created against TK? if so the sun standard was a waste of points since it didn't (or shouldn't have) affected him i have 2 questions, to the 1st: if you used bane head on his priest (assuming it was his hierophant tough it makes no difference except a tactical one) how did the priest survive the conflagration with 1 wound where each wound becomes 2? he had a king and it was a 2300 pts game so it was a peist, not a high priest with only 2 ounds... he should be dead... unless you wounded the guards and actually killed the priest and the casket should have been destroyed at the start of his turn or you wounded the indestructable casket. to the 2nd i won't quote, but you said the comment was in the air all game and you also mentioned casting wih the priest... meaning you cast a spell while another RiP spell was being channeled... again a rules conflict... i'm not criticism but drawing attention to the rules to improve gameplay sorry if this comes off as offensive