I talked my O&G friend into another pretournament game. I kept my list the same, given the loss he suffered last time, my friend changed his list significantly. Here’s a recap of the last battle: http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/2500-lm-vs-grimgors-o-g-battle-for-the-pass.9973/ Slann, Extra Power Die, Lore Mastery (Light*), Iron Curse Icon, Cupped Hands, BSB Standard of Discipline * It’s possible but unlikely that the Tournament referee will allow to change lore match to match in the actual tournament but I played this game as if that wasn’t an option. Skink Priest, Cube of Darkness (blue) Skink Priest, Forbidden Rod (dark green) 2 x 25 Saurus Warriors FC (green and blue) 20 Cohort Skinks, FC 26 Temple Guard, FC, Venom of the Firefly Frog, Banner of Eternal Flame 3 Kroxigor 2 x 7 Chamo Skinks with Brave (A and B) 3 Terradons 2 x 1 Salamander team with snack (male and female) Razordon Team with snac I do not remember the exact numbers of models in each O&G unit and I’m not 100% of what magical items were taken, I only include magical items that I noticed. Orc Warboss, Sword of Might Savage Orc Great Shaman, L4, Lucky Shrunken Head (boosts Ward save of Savage Orcs he is with), Fencers Blades Goblin Warboss, BSB Night Goblin Shaman, L2, Dispel Scroll Large unit of Savage Orcs with FC (Savage Orc shaman deployed here) Large unit of Night Goblins with FC and 3 Fanatics (BSB and Night Goblin Shaman deployed here) Very large unit of regular orcs with standard and musician (Warboss deployed here) 2 x Orc Boar Chariots Goblin Rock Lobber Mangler Squig Giant with 6+ Ward Save (he transferred the giants good luck on ward saves to the Savage Orcs) Goblin Doom Diver I was running behind so my friend set up all the terrain using scatter dice to place it. He rolled a Haunted Mansion, a Sphinx, two mysterious forests, a quicksand swamp, and a ghost fence. We rolled a watchtower scenario and won the roll off to start with the tower. That means my friend got to choose the table side he wanted and he took the sphinx to prevent my Slann from scoring a coup like last game. My blue Skink rolled Comet of Cassadora. My expendable Green Skink also rolled Comet of Cassadora so I chose Uranon’s Thunderbolt on the off chance I needed two spells to kill the Mangler Squig. The Goblin Shaman got Gork’ll fix it and Curse of the Bad Moon. The Orc Shaman got Gaze of Mork, Hand of Gork, Brain Busta, and ‘Ere We Go. He deployed his Doom Diver in the back on my left side and his rock lobber in the back towardsmy left and thecenter of the board respectively. In front of the Doom Diver on my left was a Boar Chariot and then giant. The center left had his Night Goblins with the Mangler Squig taking the dead center. His regular orcs were behind the watch tower slightly to my left and the Savage orcs were behind the watch tower slightly to my right. Then he had his boar chariot on the right. Well used to my scouts, he deployed his forces so as to deny me any vulnerable spots to drop my Chamo Skinks. My twenty skinks occupied the Watchtower. My Temple Guard deployed directly behind the Watchtower. My green Saurus took their right. My Kroxigors deployed in the swamp on the right flank of my Green Saurus with the male Salamander forming the right flank of the Kroxigors to line up to burn some orcs later. My Razordon was near the Salamander to keep the chariot away from my Salamander. The Haunted Mansion took up enough space that I only had enough room to deploy my female Salamander there or my green Saurus. I chose the Salamander there. This was quite possibly my game costing mistake. In hind sight I would have clearly been better served if I ignored the troops he put on my left flank entirely and put everything I had towards the Watchtower. The chariots, giant, and Night Goblins posed no threat to my tower. I thought I would be safe putting [/i]most[/i] of my troops near the Watchtower instead of putting all my troops near the watchtower. I was clearly wrong. The following troops went to total waste being arrayed against the non threatening enemies: to my left I had my Terradons then my Blue Saurus. My Chamo Skinks were hiding behind the Sphinx, one unit pointed diagonally towards the giant the other pointed diagonally at the Night Goblins. The Terradons Vanguarded forward towards the chariot, another foolish decision on my part. Attackers always go first in Watchtower scenarios. Orcs and Goblin Turn 1 No Animosity problems. The Savage Orcs and the General’s unit of vanilla orcs both charged my watchtower. The Skinks used their stand and shoot against the Savage Orcs, killing one or two. Since the Savage orc block was barely over half the size of the vanilla orcs and they had more attacks I viewed them as the higher threat. The giant charged the nearer of the Chameleon Skink units who inflicted two wounds on him with a stand and shoot. Then the chariot charged my Terradons. I figured by fleeing I could draw the chariot away but the chariot redirected into my Chamo Skinks. I had figured the giant had a low chance of reaching the Skinks and the chariot had a near certain chance of reaching them so they fled. The fleeing Chamo skinks nicked the edge of the other Chamo Skink unit. This unit failed their panic test. The second group ran far enough to bump into the blue Saurus and they panicked. Then they rolled an 11 inch flee movement and ran off the table. To add insult to injury, both the chariot and giant rolled very poor charge rolls: they wouldn’t have successfully charged anything if I had just held…. The chariot on my right advanced trying to steer around the ghost fence which prevented the chariot making a straight shot at my Kroxigor and warbeasts. The Night Goblin Shaman challenged the sphinx and lost taking a wound for his impetuousness. Sphinxes only work for me gobby! With no more Saurus on their side to worry about, the Night Goblins pivoted towards the center and also advanced. The Mangler squig bound forward towards my wounded Salamander and Temple Guard. He rolled a lot of power dice so I pulled out my Cube on the first spell just to be on the safe side and got the 4+ I needed to shut down the entire magic phase. He aimed the Rock Lobber to try to kill the Slann gambling on me failing the look-out sir roll but the rock scattered widely and hit nothing. The Doom Diver aimed at my Salamander team but its initial scatter was high his only option was to use his redirect the diver to fleeing Chamo Skinks cutting their numbers roughly in half. The ghosts from the Haunted Mansion decided to help the Goblins by killing one of the fleeing Chamo Skinks and wounding the Salamander. Only the general joined the assault party on the Watchtower, the other nine fighters came from the Savage Orc unit. My Skink Brave declared a challenge. The Orc Warboss decided a single Skink was not worthy of his attention and the Savage Orc unit champion accepted in his place. The Skink brave did not take well to being ignored, so he promptly slew the Savage Orc Big Un sent to fight him. The other nine Skinks killed a single Savage Orc. The general and other Savage Orcs killed over half of my rank and file Skinks but the survivors were steadfast and in range of the Slann holding quite easily LM Turn One I wanted to try to nip the Savage Orc problem in the bud so I attempted long shot charges against them with both my Green Saurus and Kroxigor. Both failed to reach them and the Kroxigors ran into a mysterious woods which turned out to be a Wildwood. The wounded my Kroxigors twice this turn. My Terradons failed to rally and flew off the table. Neither of my two Chamo Skink units rallied and one of them also fled off the table. My male Salamander risked the Wildwood to line up a good shot on the Savage Orcs and the woods decided to leave him alone. The female advanced to line up a shot on the Night Goblins (just outside of Fanatic range). My Temple Guard marched towards the Watchtower. My Razordon advanced to get into range of the Chariot on my Right Flank. I thought about evacuating my skink priests from the Watchtower because I now had too few rank and file members to keep them out of combat but I left them in. I feared losing the tower more than I feared losing my secondary casters. I didn’t roll a lot of power dice but my expendable green priest activated the Forbidden Rod to get me five more dice. The priest even survived the Rod’s use buying him a tiny bit of borrowed time. First my blue priest threw down Comet of Cassandora just behind the two orc blocks. I cast Speed of Light on the Skinks to make them harder to kill then I cast Banishment to take the Mangler Squig off the table. Finally, I threw Net of Amytok on the Savage Orcs to attempt to keep them out of next round’s fight. The Comet did not go off this turn. My female Salamander killed about nine Night Goblins. They didn’t panic due to being in the general’s command distance and having the BSB in their unit. The male Salamander killed a paltry two Savage Orcs despite scoring many hits (the 5+ Ward save is irritating given my friend’s luck with Ward saves!). My Razordon inflicted a single unsaved wound on the Boar Chariot it was facing. My tower skinks killed another Savage Orc or two with javelins. The ghosts from the Haunted mansion were very vengeful killing another fleeing Chamo Skink and then two Night Goblins. The ghosts came very close to wounding the giant. Orc and Goblin Turn Two No Animosity problems again. The two orc units charged the tower again. The Boar Chariot on the right charged my Razordon who managed to inflict another unsaved wound on the Stand and Shoot. The Night Goblins advanced forward and launched all three Fanatics towards my Temple Guard but they all fell short. The Giant and chariot on the left advanced towards my fleeing Chamo Skinks pivoting a little bit towards the center as they did so. The Goblin cast Gork’ll Fix it to hex my tower Skinks and partially counter act their Speed of Light buff. The other of his spell attempts either failed or were dispelled. The Comet gained a new counter The Doom Diver misfired and lost its shot this turn. The Rock Lobber hit my Slann dead center, but my look out sir worked and I only lost three Temple Guard from the whole attack. The ghosts in the mansion killed two of the three Fanatics and took out a Salamander handler. Once again he sent his general alone from the regular orc block and filled the other nine spots on his assault team with Savage Orcs. My Skink reissued his challenge and the Orc general accepted. The general killed the Skink of course but surprisingly got no overkills. See it turned out he was fighting the greatest skink of his generation. He even scored a hit on the mighty Orc as he died (failed to bypass his armor though). The Light of Battle enhanced Skinks took out two or three Savage orcs. Now the Orcs had to allocated attacks between characters and rank and file. They killed both Skink priests (with non-carrying over wounds to spare). The rank and file Skinks were brought down to four members. The important thing is the unit as a whole lived and I kept control of the watch tower. Light of Battle trumps Gork’s attempt to fix things! On the other side of the table, things went less well. Most of the chariots impact hits were absorbed by the Razordon’s crew. The Razordon whiffed his attacks and failed to take down the last of the Chariots wounds on his initiative. The Orcs and boars then proceeded to slaughter my Razordon. LM Turn Two My green Saurus, my Kroxigor unit, and my male Salamander all charged the Savage Orcs. Only the Salamander team pulled off its charge successfully. I informed the Salamander team’s next of kin right then just to get it out of the way. My remaining Chamo Skinks rallied. All that is left of my original left flank force is three skinks. My non-engaged Salamander repositioned itself to shoot at the Night Goblins in response to their move. My remaining Skinks exited the tower to let my Temple Guard and Slann in. The Wild Woods attempted to wound my Kroxigor again but failed. I cast Timewarp on my Temple Guard. Then I rolled snake eyes on my next spell ending my magic phase early. The Comet gained a new counter. My unengaged Salamander decided to eat its remaining two handlers before the ghosts killed them. I gambled that the remaining Fanatic would either go somewhere harmless or get killed by the Haunted mansion so my remaining four cohort skinks fired on the Night Goblin block doing no damage. This is the first turn the ghosts failed to kill anything on either side. I figured since the Salamander team in CC wasn’t going to break the Savage Orcs I should concentrate all my attacks on the Savage Orc Shaman and remove the buff the unit was getting from his Lucky Shrunken Head. My brilliant plan didn’t work because the Shaman had Fencers Blades making him exceedingly difficult to hit. The Salamander team took some wounds and lost combat but held due to the nearby Slann’s leadership. Orc and Goblin Turn Three Again, no Animosity problems. The general’s orc block charged my depleted Skink cohort. I fled hoping to draw the orcs out of position once again forgetting how easy redirects are in 8th edition. The orc block redirected into the tower. If I held instead of fled they had a slim chance to keep the orcs away from the tower this turn, oh well. Another downside of my decision to flee was that the fact that the path of the fleeing Skinks took brought them smack into the last Night Goblin Fanatic. That part didn’t bother me since I figured 34 points of Skinks was a small price to pay to take out a 45 point Fanatic. (I should have thought of the units in terms of usefulness and not points though). The Night Goblins charged my Salamander who chose not to flee. The Goblins failed their charge roll as I half-expected them to do. The Giant charged my Chamo Skinks who failed to inflict any wounds with their stand and shoot. The chariots repositioned themselves inconsequentially. The Doom Diver fired on my Kroxigors but failed to wound. The Rock Lobber misfired and lost its shot this round. The ghosts didn’t inflict any damage this round on any of the few targets in range. The Night Goblin gagged on a bad mushroom while trying to cast Gork’ll Fix it. I was able to stop the rest of his magic phase with dispel dice. The Comet gained another counter. The giant squished the last of my Chamo Skinks beneath its feet. The Savage Orcs finished off my Salamander. The Warboss killed my Temple Guard champion in a challenge again scoring no over kill but robbing me of my Venom of the Firefly augmented attacks. The Orcs killed some Temple Guard and the Temple Guard killed some Orcs. The end result on the tower fight was a draw. Lizardmen Turn Three Finally my Saurus and Kroxigor successfully charged the Savage Orcs! My surviving Salamander repositioned itself a bit. With three units in combat I wanted to get some augments out. I did not expect a dispel scroll (my O&G friend rarely takes them in his lists). He used his scroll to dispel my augmented Speed of Light casting and he used regular dispel dice to dispel my augmented Pha’s Protection. I got regular Timewarp off on the Temple Guard and used my last die to throw a magic missile at one of the orc blocks inflicting inconsequential casualties. The Comet finally landed killing 6-8 models each off the Orc Boys, Temple Guard, Saurus Warriors, and Savage Orcs blocks barely missing my Kroxigor. My Salamander burned some Night Goblins. The ghosts inflicted no damage prompting the Goblins to moon the Haunted Mansion in contempt. My Saurus and Kroxigor were counting on buff spells to beat the Savage Orcs since they still haven’t lost their Frenzy. The Saurus killed a few Savage Orcs but the Savage Orcs decimated both units forcing them to test on snake eyes. The Savage Orc broke and ran down both units. Orc and Goblin Turn Four The general’s orc block charged the Temple Guard. The Night Goblins charged my Salamander The Savage Orcs repositioned themselves towards the tower to hit it next turn. He didn’t both moving his chariots or giant at all. His magic phase was a wash and there was nothing to shoot at. The ghosts had nothing in range any more. The Temple Guard killed 15 Orcs. They literally hit on 30 out of 30 attack rolls. This was the first and only time I won a round of combat this game. This was not cause for celebration because they still took a fair number of casualties (I had only two Temple Guard left after the orcs had their say). The Night Goblins killed my wounded Salamander but not before she managed to a chunk of the BSB with her into the afterlife. LM Turn Four Nothing to move, nothing to shoot, no combats to play out. I cast Speed of Light and Timewarp on the Temple Guard. I cast Net of Amytok on the Savage Orcs and threw Shem’s Burning Gaze at them for good measure. Pha’s Protection was dispelled. If I rolled a six I could have ended the game on this turn with control of the Watchtower and thus won despite being down to my last unit, but my luck was not that good. Orc and Goblin Turn Five The two orc blocks charged the tower, the Savage Orcs passing the strength roll they needed to overcome the Net. I managed to dispel ‘Ere We Go but he got Gork’ll fix it through. Speed of Light and Timewarp aren’t that impressive when you have three models left. I killed a few orcs but they wiped out the last of my Temple Guard and wounded the Slann three times. LM Turn Five: Nothing to move. I used an unnecessarily high number of dice to cast Timewarp hoping to toss a Miscast onto one of the Shamans. I rolled Irresistible Force as I was hoping to do, but I rolled a 1 on my Cupped Hands test. I rolled a Power drain losing Timewarp and Banishment and more importantly losing the rest of my magic phase. There was nothing left that could shoot and there was nothing fighting. If I rolled a 5 here I could have the game while holding the Watchtower with only a single model on the board but I rolled a 4 instead. Orc and Goblin Turn Six The Orcs charged the Slann, killed it, capturing the objective and wiping me off the board entirely in one swift stroke. Upcoming Tournament The tournament Game Master is not sharing any details of the tournament ahead of time. I haven’t met him but those who know him expect him to come up with all homebrew scenarios. They are eight players signed up and we are starting pretty early in the morning so it’s likely everyone will play three games. I don’t plan to change my current list at this point, but if the GM lets us switch lores battle before the battles I plan to take Shadow for fighting Empire The signup includes: Dwarfs: I play him a LOT. We know our opposing styles very well this is bound to be close. O&G: The guy I just played. I’ve been playing him a lot lately and I fear he’s learning how I fight faster than I’m learning how he fights. WoC: A tough player, my predicted winner of the tournament. VC or Demons: A tough player, I predict him to take runner up. I’ve played his as VC once and he won handedly. I never played Demons but I read the book thoroughly, unless he takes the anti-Light magic banner I don’t see how they’ll be dangerous than his VC. VC: I know he is very skilled with Tomb Kings. I didn't know he collected VC. Collecting two undead armies seems redundant. Ogres: Met him but never played him or seen him play. He was in first place position in our last map campaign before it ended prematurely. Ogres or Empire: Don’t know this player. Empire: He was a newbie last year, but he’s likely honed his skills since then. Beastmen: Met him but never played him. I saw him get stomped by the WoC player once but I wasn’t watching very closely as I was playing another player at the time. Beastmen are the only army in WHF that I’ve never played AND never read the book for. I’m not too worried, I got lots of poison shooting. LM: Me Tournament is tomorrow I’ll try to post a summary fairly shortly.
hahaha, oh my gosh, great write-up. I almost lost it when I read you rolled a 1 for cupped hands. Your start was unbelievably bad. Hope you took something from it. I think you should build a shrine terrain piece for that skink brave.
Ooh, it almost physically hurt me to read that report... Whenever you had luck, it was either too late or in a wrong place. That Skink Brave was amazing, though. Thanks for sharing it nonetheless, and hopefully all the luck you saved from here will get transferred to the tournament!
THe luck did not transfer to the tournament. I either seemed to whiff early castings in my magic phase or roll IF every other roll. The Skinks did super awesome holding off units far above their point size and shooting to death units their same size or smaller whenever I got them inside a building. 20 vanilla skinks is going to become a fixture on all of my lists where I expect games to use the BRB terrain generator chart (which is tilted heavily towards buildings). http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/tournament-summary-fought-vc-empire-and-beastmen-long.10006/