This was a battle for our group's Mighty Empires campaign. We traditionally played at 2500 points however we both had 250 points in support and I had a wizard's tower (free 50 pt) and my opponent had 2. We plan closed lists and I was not looking forward to playing my opponent. He tends to cheat a lot and forget rules or remember them when it's convienient for him. However as I was as of yet undefeated and had massacred ten out of twelve previous turns I was ready to put this guy in his place and show that cheating doesn't get you anywhere. My ListSlann - General Focused Rumination Focus of Mystery (my 50 pt free item) Book of Ashur Blood Statuette of Spite BSB - Banner of Dicipline Oldblood Cold One Giant Blade Maiming Shield Gor-Rok 20 Saurus Warriors Spears Full Command 20 Saurus Warrios Spears Musician, Standard 2 x 10 Skink Skirmishers 20 Temple Guard Full Command War Banner 9 Cold One Cavalry Full Commander Banner of Eternal Flame 5 Chameleon Skinks Stalker 6 Chameleon Skinks Ancient Stegadon His List Dreadlord Cold One Never Found out his items (you'll see why) Level 4 Sorceress Cold One Never found out what she had Malus Darkblade Tried to give him some sea dragon magic item, it's illegal which I pointed out. Witch Hag Cauldron of Blood BSB 50 Warriors Spears Full Command 20-25 Corsairs Full Command Hydra Banner (this was also illegal as the unit can only have a banner worth up to 25 points) 20 Warriors X-Bows 25-30 Witches Full Command 10 Cold One Cavalry Full Command War Banner (Also tried to give this banner the sea dragon magic cloak, once again I pointed out it's illegality) 2 Reaper Bolt Throwers The Table I'll give the description from the side I ended up picking. To my far left was a settlement of good with a Wizard's tower, two buildings and 3 barricades. Next to that was an Acropolyse of Heroes which was sort of left of center. Next to the Acropolyes was a forrest, right of center. On my far right was a settlement of evil with a bane stone, 3 buildings and 3 barricades. On the opposite side - far left was another Acropolyse of Heroes. Next to that was a large hill with a forrest on top and next to the board edge. Next to this was a mist wreathed swamp and on the far right side stood a single building. The scenario was a pitched battle. Deployment I chose the side with the settlements because I surely did not want him to castle up behind the barricades of the evil settlement with the bane stone giving +1 to wound to his x-bows and reaper bolt throwers I knew he would be taking. We set up in turns but I'll describe my deployment then his. On my far left I set up the Cold Ones with a Skink unit beside them behind the barricades in the good settlement. Then I deployed another Skink unit inside the Acropolyse. Between that and the forrest I placed a unit of Warriors where I would also place Gor-Rok. Behind them I placed my Temple Guard. On the other side of forrest I placed my last Skink unit with the second Warrior unit behind them. Lastly I placed my Ancient on my far right to roll up the flanks of my enemy. My opponent (we'll call him Bob) deployed his Corsairs across from my left most Skinks. On top of the hill on the edge of the hill he placed his two Reapers with the x-bow Warriors between them, a solid base of fire. Down the hill a little he placed his Cauldron centrally. In front of that he placed his Hoarde of Warriors with the Witches to the right (from my perspective). Finally he placed his Cold One Knight unit with all three mounted characters inside. It was a truely powerful (and expensive) unit. For scouts I was able to squeeze my six model Chameleon unit on the far left on his side with barely enough room. The other Chameleon unit I placed on the far right behind and to the side of his Cold Ones. Lizardmen Turn 1\ I won the dice roll and chose to go first. I passed my Stupidity check for my Cold Ones but declined to make any charges. Instead I moved the Cold Ones out of the good settlement and forward enough that it'd be a far reach for his Corsairs to charge me. The Skinks in the Acropolyse and the good settlement moved forward and towards the Elf gun line. I would be out of range this turn but should be able to make it there next turn. My Gor-Rok unit and TG jostled forward and began setting up to take on the horde of spear elves. I slid my Skinks on the right forward but not too far to be charge prematurely by the Witches streight across the table. The Saurus behind them stayed on the Skink's heals. And finally my Ancient moved out of the settlement of evil it was in and moved forward to have the swamp between the Cold One Knight unit and it. My left side Chameleons moved behind the Corsairs while the right side went behind the Elf Cold Ones. In my magic phase I got Throne of Vines off without a hitch and Bob chose to let it go. Then when I cast Flesh to Stone on my Cold Ones to help them weather the hale of Reaper and x-bow bolts sure to rain down Bob chucked a fair amount of dice but failed to dispel. I then made a half hearted attempt to give my Slann/TG regeneration and succeeded the casting but when Bob tossed the remainder of his dice to dispel he failed again! I had two dice left and Bob had none so I pulled out the Blood Statuette and pointed a finger at Malus. The spell went off and he failed his first toughness test. However unfortunately he passed the second test with ease so Malus lived another day. Shooting was short but effective. My 6 Chameleons took out the left most Reaper with wounds to spare. This caused the Corsairs to flee away from the Chameleons and right into the sights of my CoC! The only other unit to shoot was the right most Chameleons but their shots bounced off the armour of the elven knights. Dark Elf Turn 1 Bob had no charges but he did manage to rally his Corsairs. His Horde and Witches moved forward to prepair to charge or recieve one. Surprisingly he turned his Cold One Knight to face my Chameleon unit behind them. His magic was focused entirely on the Chameleons near his Knights. Most of his casting was pretty low, right at value or just over so I had no difficulty in dispeling his first two spells, he failed to cast his last spell. For shooting his remaining Reaper targeted Gor-Rok's unit but he rolled a 1 to hit. His x-bow Warrior unit targeted my left most Skink unit and killed 3. I passed my panic. Lizardmen Turn 2 My Cold Ones passed stupidity with ease and I charged them into his Corsairs. That being my only charge I moved my Chameleons up the hill behind the x-bow Warriors to shoot at the last Reaper. My other Chameleons danced to the side of the Knights on the far right side (much to the consternation of Bob). My two left Skink units moved to within shooting distance of his x-bows and Reaper, one of them could reach the Cauldron if I so chose. Gor-Rok's unit and the TG completed their position shifting with Gor-Rok's Warriors in front but canted slightly away from the TG. My TG were behind the Warriors and to the side. This set up would allow Gor-Rok's unit to take the Spear elves charge and with the stubborn of Gor-Rok and Slann's BSB near by I would get a flank charge on my next turn. My right most Skinks moved forward to within shooting distance of the Witches with the Warriors behind remaining close. The Ancient turned and also moved to within shooting distance of the Witches. I got 11 power dice in the magic phaser and so went right on casting Flesh to Stone upon my Cold Ones and got it off (Bob didn't even try to dispel it). I next cast regeneration upon my TG without Bob attempting to dispel (I think he knew he wouldn't charge them next turn and that the spell would go away) I then tried to bring back some dead on the previously wounded Skink unit but it was dispelled. For my final trick I threw everything into taking down the x-bow warriors. I didn't roll irrisistable but it didn't matter as Bob only had two dice and could roll box cars to save his life. Bob rolled the strength checks for the x-bow Warriors and failed ten. Unfortunately they passed their panic. In shooting my 6 Chameleons murdered the last Reaper. I then decided to try and take down the Cauldron with one unit of Skinks but only managed to kill one attendant, it seemed that Bob was making some odd armour or ward save but I didn't catch anything right then. My depleated Skink unit tried at taking down a few more x-bow warriors but didn't get any wounds, as was the case with the Chameleons on my right against the Cold One Knights. The Witches however fell in droves to my Skink Skirmisher unit across them on the fight side and the Ancient's shooting. Of the 25-30 Witches only 8 were left standing. Bob promptly failed his panic and fled 10 inches away from the mass murder. In combat Bob threw a bucket of dice against my CoC but couldn't scratch them. In return my unit which I had designed to take down a Hydra hacked their way through almost half the Coursairs. Bob needed snake eyes to stick around but failed miserably. I gave chase but was one inch short of catching them! Dark Elf Turn 2 The only charge Bob had was his spear elves into Gor-Rok's Warriors. He did rally his Coursairs so that my CoC could bloody their weapons some more. He also managed to rally his Witches for what good they were worth. Bob then manuvered his knight unit to face my Chameleons on the right side once more. It was at this point that I took pity on the cheater and informed his of what he might think of doing next time and point out that my Chameleons hadn't harmed him yet and next time he might want to think about ignoring them and moving to engage juicier target's next time. The magic phase was short and sweet. He failed his first casting. In shooting he did marginally better with taking down four more Skinks from the unit he'd targeted previously but they failed their panic check and fled. Combat looked brutal against my Warriors but Lady Luck doesn't like Cheaters either and so Bob only managed to kill three Saurus out of 30 some attacks. I then picked up my dice and quickly slew 9 elves. Combat resolution ended with me down by one. I passed the test leaving the elves flank open to my TG. Final Turn of the Game Did I also mention that Bob was quick to give up? By this time he was declaring he would likely be tossing in the towel by the end of my turn. My CoC barely passed their stupidity test, with relief I charged them into the Corsairs for another bloody round of combat. My TG naturally charged the flank of the spear totting elves. I then rallied my running Skinks, moved the Chameleons to the side of Bob's Cold One Knights and left my Ancient and far right Skinks where they were, letting him come to me. For magic I cast Flesh to Stone on my TG and Regeneration upon my Gor-Rok Warrior unit. Bob tried but failed to dispel anything. In shooting my 6 Chameleons and full strength Skink Skirmishers shot the Cauldron to bits and this was the straw that broke Bob's back. He declaired that he would capitulate but in good sport allowed me to finish my turn. Oh, by the way my Chameleon's failed to do any wounds to the knight unit they had danced with all game. In close combat Bob couldn't roll a six to wound Gor-Rok's Warriors. He lost around 15 of his own and utterly failed his break check. Both units chased and ran down the horde. On the far left side the Corsairs brought low two CoC but I took down all but four in return. Once more he failed his break check and ran off the board. End of Game thoughts Dice went horrible for Bob this game. He couldn't make a test when he needed one and could barely get off any spells and only once dispelled one of mine. Despite all this he did make the critical mistake of dancing his doomsday Cold One Knights in circles against a unit worth barely more than 2 of his models. Had that unit gotten into the fray the battle may have been more dynamic and harder for me because I'd have to deal with a hard hitter like that. As it was the low armour, strength and toughnes of his unit just couldn't compete with my Saurus.
Wow nice job, poor bob had a horrible experince with magic though, but thats what you get when you try to best a slann at his own game. I havent played a game in quite awhile mainly to the lack of time I have where i can play somone although i should be playing HE soon, I really wanted to try slann of light out but it seems your life worked quite well, I am also tempted to make a saurus first striking +1 attack spear unti to kill enimers rightout. I really liked how you played your game and all the skinks done well although the lack of steg action made me sad D:
Thanks for the praise. I typically am very cautious about when I play. I like to soften up a unit using my skinks by shooting them for a turn or two before charging in with my Saurus and stegs, especially a unit like Witches being backed up by a Cauldron of Blood! It would have been nice to see my Ancient go in and make a bloody mess all over the table with the witches but unfortunately they wanted to run instead. Yeah his magic was a bit off and his dice rolls in general were horrible. The skinks are absolutely phenominal. A little under 350 points in skinks took out his entire gun line and his Cauldron. Besides the straight point value the lack of points he was able to take from me from that shooting make them really effective.
Sweet battle report and yeah quite a whooping. Only played once in 8th and used light. I'm thinking I need to try a run at life here soon.
Nice of you to call him a cheater and then cheat yourself The regeneration spell is for the wizard and his unit only
Eh! That was a typo. In truth I had cast the spells the other way around. Flesh to Stone on my Gor-Rok unit and Regeneration on my Slann's unit. I had origonally planned to cast it upon my Gor-Rok unit but did see that it could only be used on my Slann and his unit. But thanks for catching that for me! I certainly don't want to fall into that pit trap! HAHA