I'll say right up front that this guy is a VERY poor loser and that basically he handed this victory to me but I do admit the first two turns were brutal! What I had 2500 (I am playing in a campaign and was able to add 250 pts); Slann (Lore of Life) Becalming, Focus of Mystery, Focused Rumination Item gives +1 to cast/dispel, Blood Statuette BSB w/ Flaming Standard Skink Priest Lvl 2 EotG Plaque of Tepok Scar Vet (placed in Temple Guard) Ogre Blade Helm gives +2 Ward vs. fire 20 Saurus Spears, Music, Standard 18 Saurus Hand Wpn/Shield, Music 2 x 10 Skink Skirmishers 20 Temple Guard Full Command Razor Standard 5 Cold One Cavalry Music, Banner (might have had Banner of Swiftness, can't remember) 3 Terradons 3 Razordons w/ extra handlers What he had: Lvl 4 Sorceress Dispel scroll Dark Pegasus Lvl 1 Witch Caster Item that adds 1 to dispel pool Noble on Chariot (never knew what he had for magic items) 2 x 25 Warriors Spears/shields Full Command 20 Repeater Crossbowmen 2 x 5 Dark Riders Crossbows and Spears 20 Witches Full Command 2 x 5 Harpies Couldron of Blood War Hydra 2 x Reeper Bolt Throwers Notes: I knew this guy likes to take magic and bolt throwers and the Hydra. These three things I know he depends upon but he went surprisingly light on magic especially since he knows I usually run a strong Magic presence. I had also kitted out my Temple Guard to take on his Hydra w/ my Scar Vet in the unit which would strike first (excluding Hydra's beastmasters) and the TG would strike simultanious to the Hydra. The Flaming banner combined with the -3 to armour means all wounds would get no saves! Senario: Meeting engagement which meant that we drew a 12" line diagonal across the board. I rolled to set up and go first. Our terrain was pretty dense w/ 9 terrain. I have a really nice Battle Board so we used that. We rolled three hills and two were on one side so we combined them into one big hill (which turned out ot be a scree slope). On my half of deployment we rolled a Wood, Elven Waystone and watch tower. For his side he got a hill, 2 normal buildings and a Hall of Heros (or whatever it's called). Set up: I basically put my two blocks of Saurus as far forward as I could with the smaller unit on the right of the big block. I then set up the Razordons to the right of the small Saurus block to hold the flank. Beside the big block of saurus I planted both my Skinks on the scree slope. Behind my Skinks I placed my CoC for the inevitable flank on the large block, my Temple Guard were behind both blocks of regular saurus and the EotG beside them but still behind the big block of saurus. My opponent predictably set up his Dark Riders on either flank. He put his Hydra back a little and across from my razordons. His infantry line had the Witches in the middle between both spearmen units. He set his crossbow men across from my skinks at the base of the hill and then placed his Lvl 4 and placed his Reepers next to her on the hill. One unit of harpies set up inside a house beside his Hydra and his other unit was behind his right-most spearmen. He rolled (because of the senario) his noble on chariot and lvl 1 in reserves. Turn 1: I went first per senario rules. I moved both saurus blocks aside to get my temple guard out and in front of his hydra and forward a bit to tempt him. My skinks moved forward so they could shoot at the dark riders across from them. My razordons moved out of the woods of blood they had deployed in and into firing position of his dark riders. My terradons flew over to hide behind a house and prepair to fly over the house with harpies in it next and drop rocks. The rest of my army held fast. In magic I used the mega shield of 5+ ward against shooting which encompassed all but my skinks and razordons. I next tempted him with chain lightning against his infantry line and got the spell off easily enough. He used all his dispel dice to stop it (which he did). But it left me with some 4 power dice for my Slann to cast. I got off Throne of Vines and then Dwellers Below against a unit of spearmen but he only rolled 7 casualties out of 25! Amazing! For my last trick I pulled out the Blood Statuettte and waved it towards his Lvl 4 but he scrolled it. In shooting my skinks rolled horribly and killed only three Dark Riders out of 40 shots! He passed his panic. My Razordons ate three herders but destroyed the other unit of dark riders. --------------------------- My opponent moved his infantry closer to my line and got his Hydra away from my Temple Guard (I think he suspected they were ready for him) but that's all the movement he had. In magic I dispelled chill wind against one of my skink units and he failed to get his next spell off so that ended magic for him. In shooting he took out four skinks in one unit and two in another. His reapers didn't do a thing. He then used his only breath weapon attack against my terradons. He actually only touched two of them and only did two wounds. I passed my panic check. Turn 2: I declaired my Temple guard to charge his Witchelves and he chose to flee. So I redirected into his leftmost spear elves which held for the charge. My big block of spear saurus moved up to tempt his other block of spears but then my CoC moved into a flank charge position as I was sure my block would hold against his charge. My other block of hw/s saurus moved up to prepair for a flank support of my temple guard for a turn three charge or divert his witch elves when they rallied on his turn two. My skinks moved over closer so that I could shoot at his crossbowmen. My terradons flew over a unit of harpies and got into position to charge a reaper bolt thrower (admittedly out in the open). My razors held fast with a juicy hydra in range. My terradons dropped four rocks but only did one wound...grrr For magic I declaired the 5+ ward once more and rolled horrible for winds of magic but did channel from both mages! Since I still had Thrown of Vines I cast flesh to stone on my Temple Guard and my opponent couldn't dispel it so his lvl 4 couldn't dispel anymore. I then cast shield of thorns on the same unit. My oppenent let it go. I healed up my 7 man skink unit back to full strength and then tried chain lightning but it didn't go off. In shooting I killed the last of his Dark riders with one unit of skinks and then my other unit killed only two crossbowmen. However the resultant panic on a Harpie unit because of the dark riders dieing made them flee through a bolt thrower crew but he passed that panic. I think his harpies should have fled off the board he had rolled high enough but I didn't press the issue when he set them near the board edge. My Razordons only did one wound on the hydra so I was sweating a little as it was within a charge against them. In combat his spears had rubber tips and bounced off of my toughness 8. My strikes back took out about half the unit and he quickly fled. So fast in fact that he got away from me but not before I got to within two inches of him. --------------------------------- In his turn two his chariot bourne noble came in good position to charge my Temple Guard His lvl 1 also came on to provide magic support (her only real purpose since she couldn't join the only other Khainite unit on the board (out of range). His hydra did charge my Razordons and I said I would stand and shoot. His remaining unit of spearmen (25 man) didn't take the bait to charge my block of 20 spear saurus. He did rally his Witches, spearmen and harpies. My razordons did 40 shots! Needless to say I killed his hydra and in response my opponent capitulated. Notes: My dice rolls were hot and his weren't so great. He was indecisive with his units as well. He should have been agressive with those three damned big blocks or held them back and let magic and shooting do their work. He also took a level 4 and level 1 with minimal anti magic and no offensive ability with an army and spell list that is known for it's threat range. On the other side I didn't give him much room for his dark riders to manuver and I was very fast in taking them out as quickly as I could with my shooting. My magic was pretty nasty and I got a lot of spells off. My placement was pretty good as I supported my units and let my Temple Guard show their stuff. This is a lot of why I LOVE lore of Life! I can get the Slann's unit stuck into combat and do their what they are great at (killing blocks of soft infantry) and I can still cast all my buff spells! I coordinated my blocks of infantry and my crack Cold Ones to get combined charges and kept my opponent on the back peddle.
Well, I could write something very long. But I think it would boil down to this short version: Seems like you did a good job! And well, sore losers. I'm also a sore loser, but I always see it as a lesson. So I can always still smile. Just make them lose enough, so they understand it's not ALL about the winning. The Hunted
Great job! You had quite some luck with the Hydra, though you had a very solid plan and executed it well. I feel that he definitely was too cautious and probably could have fine tuned his list a bit more to be more competitive. All in all, sounds like you gave him a good thumping, which will make him think twice about fighting the Old One's finest anytime soon.
I can't stand when opponents use all magic and shooting; it's anoying but when you do beat the opponent you feel so much better when you wipe him off the board. Lore of Life is a great lore to use, the spells you have are all good and useful. I'm suprised he didn't try to use the multishot with both bolt throwers agianst your saurus to try killing off some ranks, guess he wasn't lucky enough if he did try. What exactly did he do with his reaper bolt throwers?
My army list was a pretty good list of shooting and magic and close combat. I did lean more towards magic and shooting but with three large blocks of infantry and a CoC unit I think it was still pretty CC strong force. His Reaper Bolt Throwers mostly shot at my skinks directly across from him. A couple of us have tried to give tips and pointers to help develop his army and generalship but he has a hard time absorbing stuff for some reason.