8th Ed. GCPD's Reports

[GCPD]

Re: GCPD's Battle Reports

My friend and I have been plugging away at our Lustria campaign, and at the weekend we fought round two. This reminded me that I've completely neglected to post the report of round 1!

We actually had to refight this battle, since we got the scenario rules so terribly wrong. This time I only rolled one strategem, but employed again Master Thief to destroy the Dragonbane Gem.

The Warriors list was unchanged, whilst mine was drawn from a 2500 point list and didn't need to follow the regular army composition rules.

As a reminder of the scenario special rules: the Warriors were deployed in thin marching columns max 4 models wide (two for Monstrous Infantry). In the first turn, every unit on both sides had to roll a Leadership check in order to make any actions. All Jungle is Impassable Terrain (difficult to Skirmishers), and like Rivers (we use lakes instead) are not Mysterious. There's a Random Jungle Events chart that's rolled at the start of each turn, though I don't remember it doing much this game.

Deployment


Learning from the previous battle, my opponent deployed so that his flying combat units could charge up this line, and his BSB and General had overlapping bubbles. Meanwhile, I got terribly unlucky with both my flying Oldblood and Ripperdactyls starting in reserve and missing turn 1 charges.

Lizardmen Turn 1


The ambush opens with a whimper rather than a bang, as the Oldblood and Ripperdactyls don't make it to the field in time, and only the Kroxigor emerge from the jungle to make contact with their enemy (only one out of three 9" charges made...)

Warriors Turn 1


The Warriors launched their counter-attack, sending the Forsaken into the flank of the exposed Kroxigor; whilst the Exalted took on the Ancient alone, and the Daemon Prince – seeking the greatest challenge – hurtled into the ranks of the Temple Guard. However, at the head and rear of the column there was confusion – the Ogres, Warhounds and Chimera were all taken by surprise and left stumbling about; whilst the small unit of Warriors was unable to readdress their ranks (wasn't enough space to go 6 wide due to the dogs and Ogres both failing their leadership tests).

The elite Saurus were weakened further by Soulblight (I let it through – they are dead anyway) before the brave Revered Guardian was cut down, whilst a ruinous Purple Sun was scrolled. Meanwhile, the Kroxigor were massacred.

However, as the Exalted swept down upon the Ancient Stegadon, one determined Skink managed to get a lucky jab at him. The Exalted was off balance and began to topple from his Disc – only to find himself skewered on the horns of the mighty beast! (This was really unlucky. Weidling a Great Weapon, the Exalted went last. One of the Skinks managed to get an incredibly lucky wound through after both a failed armour save, and a ward save roll of 2. Then the humble Stegadon with its mere 3 attacks managed to do exactly the same, killing the Exalted outright before he even got a chance to swing. Despite a terrible opening, the Lizardmen were now suddenly back in the game!)

Lizardmen Turn 2


Inspired by the defeat of the Exalted, the Lizardmen line surged forwards. Fresh from its victory, the mighty Ancient Stegadon stampeded into the Ogres, killing two outright with its sharpeend horns, wounding a third, and breaking the unit.

Elsewhere, the Oldblood duelled the Skullcrusher champion inflicting one wound past its armour, but the unit held. Meanwhile, the Ripperdactyls pulled off a long charge into the flank of the Forsaken – along the way, they were bolstered by the Slann who cast Hand of Glory. Although the Forsaken fled, the frenzied mounts were too busy feasting on the mutated flesh to catch them.

A race against time has begun – can the Temple Guard hold out against the Daemon Prince long enough for the rest of the Lizardmen force to win the day*?

*Not shown: they lose another handful of models.

Warriors Turn 2


The head of the Warrior column redeployed to counter the rampaging Stegadon, whilst the Ogres continued their head-long flight from the field. In the centre, the Chimera fell upon the Ripperdactyls and there was a savage aerial battle where the mighty beast was dealt two grevious wounds from the smaller reptiles. But it was not enough, and two of them were cut down and the third fled for his life – only to be caught by the monstrous beast.

The large group of Warriors bore down upon the lonely Skink Priest, and the champion stepped forwards to claim what seemed to be an easy kill. But it was not to be, for the Old Ones blessed this Skink with incredibly good fortune – and he danced around the Champions attacks with surprising ease! (This is not the first time a Skink Priest has held up 18 Nurgle Warriors. Its not even the second or the third time. It won't be the last!).

Lizadmen Turn 3


Once again the Ancient Stegadon roars and charges the Nurgle Ogres, driving them from the field (I had a choice here to ensure I got the VPs but expose the Stegadon to the Warriors; or turn to face the Warriors. I figured that either way I won't survive a charge from them, so might as well ensure the Ogres don't rally).

The Oldblood manages to finally win his challenge against the Skullcrusher Champion, and another full rank of Temple Guard are cut down. It looks like time has run out for them!

Warriors Turn 3


The Nurgle Warriors chase the Ancient Stegadon, who flees through a nearby lake (he's taken two wounds already and won't last long in a fight – I'm trying to keep this Warrior block away from my Oldblood long enough to kill the 'Crushers), and the Forsaken fall upon the Skink Cohort, though the unit holds. The Temple Guard are not so fortunate, however, and finally crumble under the might of the Daemon Prince, and are slaughtered as they flee.

The Chimera retreats to safety, nervous under the mighty arcane gaze of the Slann.

Lizardmen Turn 4


Threatened by the Nurgle Warriors, the Slann retreats behind the impassably dense Jungle. He turns to the Daemon Prince and, Skink Chameleons having successfully destroyed its protective ward prior to the battle, blasts him with an irresistible Searing Doom - banishing him back to the Realms of Chaos.

Warriors Turn 4


The small unit of Nurgle Warriors finally make contact with the Stegadon and fell the mighty beast, whilst the Oldblood is unable to penetrate the tough armour of the Skullcrushers. The larger unit continues to run down the Slann, and the warhounds move to surround the Oldblood.

Lizardmen Turn 5


The Slann continues his retreat, flinging Spells at depleted Warriors unit, whilst the Oldblood cuts down one more 'Crusher.

Warriors Turn 5


The last Skullcrusher finally breaks from combat and is run down by the Oldblood, whilst the rest of the Warrior units manoeuvre to entrap the Slann.

Lizardmen Turn 6


The Slann escapes the trap by casting Walk Between Worlds, allowing him to move through the impenetrable jungle as if it wasn't there. The Oldblood declines to charge the Warriors and instead withdraws into the Jungle for the ambush has clearly failed – although Chaos has not won the day, it has clearly retained enough strength to continue the invasion.

Post-game

I may have got a few turn orders wrong at the end of the game, but you get the idea: the Oldblood cleaned up the Skullcrushers, and the Warriors tried to box the Slann into a corner. He escaped by casting Walk Between Worlds, all the while chucking low level Fireballs at the stuff after him. At the time we put this as a conclusive draw: 1059 vs 1435 – forgetting that the BRB has been FAQ'd to say that you only need to score 100VPs more, rather than a twice the amount! Given the terrible start, though, I'll take a draw - it means that my opponent doesn't get any advantages in the next game like he would a victory (which is where it seemed to be going at the start).

Unit Analysis

21 Temple Guard is not enough. This unit just gets chewed up so quickly by Daemon Princes.

4 Kroxigor are terrible. This unit needs to be minimum 6 or gets dropped. Sadly, they compete for Special points with the aforementioned additional Temple Guard. There is an option to move them to Core, however.

Flyblood is still amazing. Its a shame that he took quite so long to defeat the Skullcrushers, but they were very lucky on their 4+ armour saves.

Ripperdactyls. I really like these guys. Any flying combat unit is great, giving me that lovely flank charge, but Armour Piercing on S4 is really huge – they were able to wound the Chimera twice simply through sheer weight of attacks, even without their Toad Rage.

High Magic. I really dislike this Lore. Despite its great utility, there were many times where I found myself without the right spells to cast, because in previous turns I hadn't been able to cast enough High spells to swap with. Other than Searing Doom, the Slann contributed very little to the battle because of this. I think I'd prefer to have access to all Signature Spells from the get-go, rather than the potential of swapping to them but not actually having them when I need them.

Next time...

With their ambush unsuccessful, the Lizardmen forces withdraw to marshal their full strength outside their Temple-City. Their beachhead now secure, the Warriors advance cautiously - wary of any further ambushes from the jungle, and giving time for reinforcements from the landing site to catch up.

According to the matrix, our next battle will be a Batteline. For their caution, the Warriors will get D3 strategems at the start of the game.

Hope you enjoy reading! Next battle will be up in a couple of days.

 

[GCPD]

Re: GCPD's Battle Reports (Lustria Campaign - Part 1!)

On to Round Two! Before this game, I took the opportunity to completely rewrite my list. You can read why over in my Army List thread.

With the Chaos hordes penetrating deep into Lustria, a Lizardmen army has been assembled and drawn up across their path. They make their stand around the ruins of an old temple, intending to blunt the Chaos advance here. For their part, the Warriors have been advancing cautiously – and they have used the space and time granted to them by the Lizardmen defenders to reinforce their strength.

In this battle, the Warriors of Chaos got D3 Strategems and rolled a 3. This was spent on Family Heirloom (one unit may take an additional magic item – a Dawn Stone was given to the BSB), Master Thief (who infiltrated the Lizardmen camp to destroy the Oldblood's magic carpet), and Timely Reinforcements (a Giant disembarks from the ships to join them!).

Spells
Slann: All Signature Spells
Skink Priest: Comet of Cassandra
Nurgle Daemon Prince: Spirit Leech, Fate of Bunja, Soulblight, Purple Sun.

The only scenario special rules in effect were Jungle Terrain (all forests are impassible except to skirmishers, no terrain is mysterious) and jungle effects (a 3d6random events table).

The Lizardmen won the roll for table edge, lost the roll to deploy first, but managed to win the roll for the first turn!



Terrain from left to right – hill, jungle, wall, lake, Sorcerous Portal, jungle, lake, fence, building.

My plan going in to this game was simple: magic off the Daemon Prince, castle up around the wall, and counter-attack on the left with the Skink-Kroxigor – first into the Nurgle Ogres, then ideally rolling up that flank. If I can force a fight in the lake I can deny rank bonuses (not to mention force Dangerous Terrain tests), and the narrow gap between the two jungles was a natural chokepoint.

Let's see if the Lizardmen manage to hold the line here!


Assuming defensive positions.

The Lizardmen opening move was cautious, advancing only up to the shelter of the fortification. Summoning the winds of magic to him, the Slann cast a Spirit Leech through the Skink Priest on the Daemon Prince – but the monster used all his power to defend from the assault on his mind. The Slann gave a mental shrug at this, using the rest of his strength to cast Searing Doom on the Skullcrushers.

The Sorcerous portal belched forth a fireball that consumed three Warhounds.


A slow advance.

The humidity of the Lustrain jungle reached unbearable temperatures, preventing the heavily armoured Warriors from marching; with the exception of the Chimera, who advanced on the Lizardmen flank, and the warhounds who advanced into the Sorcerous Portal to root out its secrets – only to be consumed by a second fireball. Evidently the tresures of the Old Ones protect themslves!

In retaliation for the attack on his mind, the Daemon Prince responds by casting Fate on the Skink Priest, who attempted to use his savage totem to hex the Prince. Neither attempt was successful, however.



The Lizardmen Skink auxilaries swing into action to harass the stalled Warriors line, whilst the main line shuffles its position under the command of the Saurus. The Bastiladon swings to bring its Solar Engine to bare on the Chimera – but the Daemon Prince blocks this attack on his threatening flanking monster. Then the Slann engages the Prince in a duel of the minds, though it is inconclusive.


The Chaos hordes strike!

On the left the Nurgle Ogres charge the Skinks and wipe them out, though not before losing one of their number. On the left, the Chimera falls upon the Bastiladon – both monsters wound one another, with the Bastiladon whacking it with its mighty tail. Like a predator after a wounded animal, the Exalted strikes for the Priest before he can call down a Comet, ending his life.


Counter-attack! ... Or is it?

With a silent command from the Slann, the Battle Standard Bearer leads the charge – first against the Nurgle Ogres, who flee, and then redirecting into the Skullcrushers where the second Scar-Veteran soon joins him (after his mount stumbles on the wall). Then the Ancient Stegadon lowers its tusks, ploughing through the wall to close with the Daemon Prince. The Slann summons an arcane blizzard to confound the monster, and lightning crackles from the heavens to wound it. He then raises a protective ward around his Temple Guard – using the flowing life energies to heal the Scar-Veteran.

Once again, the Portal belches forth this time felling two Warriors.

Another Nurgle Ogre is claimed by Skink javelins from the surviving Cohort unit, whilst the Skink-Kroxigor finish off the wounded warhounds, and the last Skirmisher unit kills three Forsaken with their own.

The earth trembles as the mighty Ancient Stegadon slams into the Daemon Prince with great force, but the monsters' thick, scaly hide saves him from any damage. After recovering, he stabs into the Stegadon twice – having no such trouble penetrating its own hide. (I rolled the whopping 7 impact hits! Then wounded four times! At this point I thought the game was won – only for the Daemon Prince to make three saves and a fourth on the Ward. Argh!).

Evidently the Scar-Veterans were both concerned about charging out of their lines alone, for they are only able to inflict one wound each on the Skullcrushers (another unlucky combat – 13 attacks from the Scar-Vets, a bucket full of wounds: so many 5+ armour saves made! Having fluffed the Stegadon charge as well, I really thought it was curtains here). Then the Bastiladon fell beneath the multiple heads of the Chimera. The Lizardmen counter-attack had stalled – could the battle still be won?


The Chaos gods are truly fickle!

The Chimera continues its relentless assault, leaping over the Temple Guard and into the exposed flank of the Skink-Kroxigor. Several Skinks are crushed beneath it, but the unit orderly redresses its ranks under the mental suggestion of the nearby Slann. Only the thin line of Skirmisher Skinks stands in the way of the Forsaken, and although they fell four with their poisoned Javelins, they are unable to match the Chaos mutants in combat and are run down.

The Nurgle Ogres, tired of the humidity and the poison that they are subjected to, continue their headlong flight.

Then the Daemon Prince summons his mastery over the forces of death. First he blights the Temple Guard to sap their strength and constitution, which the Slann does not resist. Believing the Lizardmen's defences to be broken, the Daemon Prince then uses all his terrible power to create a vortex that would rip through the Lizardmen lines – the dreaded Purple Sun – but the energies gather at an alarming rate, soon far out of of the Daemon Prince's control. A cataclysmic explosion lights up the whole battlefield, and when the combatants' vision clears there is only a smoking crater where once the Daemon Prince, the Ancient Stegadon and the Giant once stood. Having been too close to the detonation, the Nurgle Warriors retreat in haste, and the Skullcrushers also flee with the Battle Standard Bearere at their heels (that's right, 3 6s on a 5 dice Purple Sun and one Dimensional Cascade later, suddenly things aren't looking so bad for the Lizardmen at alll!).


The balance swings drastically in the defender's favour

The Oldblood sprints out of the Temple Guard, joining the Scar-Veteran in a charge on the Warriors, whilst the Battle Standard chases the Skullcrushers from the field. Although plagued by a Miasma, the Warriors are still able to inflict one wound on the Oldblood and lose three of their own, and the Scar-Vet kills the unit Champion. Encouraged by the nearby BSB, who is still cutting through the Skinks that dare to have the tenacity to stand before him, the Warriors hold their ground against the savage Saurus heroes.


The right flank rallies – but is it too late?

The Forskaen move into position for a flank charge on the Temple Guard, whilst the Exalted kills the last of the Skinks. However, the Chimera is dealt several wounds by the Kroxigor that are too deep even for its regenerating flesh, and runs for its life.

The Oldblood is wounded for a second time, but between them the Saurus heroes cut down five of the Chaos Warriors.


The Chaos left flank collapses.

The Slann orders his elite warriors to charge the exposed Exalted, who wisely elects to withdraw rather than face the massed ranks of the Temple Guard alone. In an impressively co-ordinate move, the Skink-Kroxigor advance rapidly through the space vacated by the Guard – first chasing the Chimera off the field, and then slamming into the Forsaken and putting them to flight.

Again the Slann uses his command of life energies to heal the wounded Oldblood, and a third Ogre falls to Lustrian poison.


Last efforts by the Ogres

The unengaged Warrior unit turns to face the Battle Standard Bearer menacing their rear, hoping to use the uncertain ground of the lake to their advantage. Frustrated at the harassment they have faced from the Skinks, the Ogres charge them – the disciplined reptiles hold their ground until the last moment before unleashing a hail of javelins, which topples a fourth of the monstrous foes, and then close ranks to hold their ground.

Watching his nearby Warriors decimated by the Saurus heroes, the Exalted orders a reluctant retreat.

The Lizardmen have won the day, and the Chaos invasion has been stalled!

Post-battle thoughts

This game was the Warriors' to lose. Once the Ancient Stegadon failed to wound the Prince, and the Scar-Vets only dealt two wounds to the Skullcrushers, I genuinely believed that it was over. Such is the nature of Warhammer that just when the dice are against you, they can suddenly swing back in your favour. That Dimensional Cascade tipped the balance drastically, even with the loss of the Stegadon: the flight of the Ogres, the Warriors and the Skullcrushers all in the same phase took half his army out of the game, whilst one Skink Cohort stubbornly continued to hold up the Exalted. Everything after this was just mopping up. Its a real shame when games are lost due to the dice going bad, rather than superior skill or tactics, but that's the way it is (although this Prince seems to always Dimensionally Cascade himself – I guess that he's got some real beef with Tzeentch!).

The result was a solid victory to the Lizardmen. It meant that we would fight another battle in round 2, with the Warriors needing to score a win of their own to advance to stage 3.

Unit Analysis.

In case you're wondering, I've been inspired to do this by Sleboda's insightful reports. The game wasn't the best demonstration of what the list could or couldn't do, as it was mostly won on that Purple Sun miscast. Nonetheless, what of my new stuff worked well?

Wandering Deliberations. Love this – so flexible, so much varying threat in every part of the game. Definitely a keeper.

(Not)Flyblood. Unable to fly due to the strategem used, he still demonstrated his worth by taking on all 18 Warriors – although he did disappoint this time by fluffing a lot of his attack dice. There's little else I'd want to put in the front of 18 Warriors, though, so he stays for now. That being said, he could get downgraded for a third Scar-Vet without much loss of efficiency, with the remaining points distributed either to the Slann, or not spent on characters. Again, this is the first place I'd probably look to make any changes.

Scar-Vets. See above – can't think of anything else that I'd have any confidence in charging Skullcrushers with other than a Stegadon, so they stay. Had the Daemon Prince not fallen down a hole, I'd probably have needed them to tie him up: and very little can do that, either.

Skink-Kroxigor. Not the best road test, as they went up against something that they are ideal for (a lone monster with poor leadership). Wasn't helped as the Chimera was attacking Skinks rather than Kroxigor, under the mistaken assumption that they would be tougher than a Saurus Warrior (well, turns out...). Had the Warrior right flank been able to join up with it in a combined charge things might have been different. Still, those S7 attacks did wound it twice which is more than I would expect Saurus to do. They stay for now.

Bastiladon. He got killed by a Chimera, didn't get to fire his lazer, and he died before Purple Sun was cast (I'd rather have him and not need him for that, than not have him and need him though...). Still, it kept the Chimera off the Temple Guard for two rounds – and he did actually wound it twice with lucky S10 attacks. But he's cheap, and I like the model, so he stays.

Ancient Stegadon. He got the optimal charge against the one thing he is there to counter, got the best impact hits result, made average wounds... only for above-average rolling to make it all irrelevant. But anything that makes a Daemon Prince pause is worthwhile in my book – so he stays.


Next time...

The Chaos army is smashed and retreats in disarray. Hot on their heels, the Lizardmen throw caution to the wind in the wake of their overwhelming victory, looking to drive the invaders out of Lustria entirely with one great push. Both sides are thus out of formation when they suddenly stumble right into each other!

With the Lizardmen choosing Attack, and the Warriors once again more conservative and choosing Advance With Caution, the next battle to be fought would be a Meeting Engagement. The Warriors caution once again pays off, as not only do they get d3 Stratagems again but they also get to decide who goes first! However, due to their own victory, the Lizardmen will also have one Stratagem.

Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!

 

[Fhanados]

Re: GCPD's Battle Reports (Lustria Campaign - Part 2!)

Loving the reports and the progress of the campaign. That Daemon Prince really seems to like skipping between dimensions. I hope this pattern continues throughout the campaign for your sake, it seems to make things easier for the Old Ones!

 

[AllSeeingWraith]

Re: GCPD's Battle Reports (Lustria Campaign - Part 2!)

These are all really well written, keep it going.

 

[GCPD]

Re: GCPD's Battle Reports (Lustria Campaign - Part 2!)

The Lizardmen, in hot pursuit of the retreating Chaos army, are caught out of formation when it suddenly rallies to face them. Both the Slann and his bodyguard of Temple Guard, and the Battle Standard with his Skink-Kroxigor regiment, don't arrive in time. On the Chaos side, some Forsaken have not made it to the battle, and the Daemon Prince is still trying to escape the Realms of Chaos where he was sucked to last time.

We got one Stratagem each, and both chose to bring additional units. My opponent rolled enough to get some kitted out Nurgle Knights. I rolled enough to bring one 10 Skink Cohort. This was not off to a good start!



The thin green line.

From left to right, a Weirding Well, Jungle (impassable), tower, hill, Khemerian Quicksand, Jungle.

Note: Not only did I 'win' the roll to deploy first, but wouldn't get the first turn due to scenario special rules, but 1500 points ended up as reserves, including the Level 4, and General and BSB.

Skink Priest has Comet and Daemon Prince rolled Purple Sun, Soulblight, Spirit Leech and Doom and Darkness.


Disaster!

Ignoring the Skink Cohorts out in front to act as bait, the Warriors of Chaos line surges forward, with both reserves moving up. Still charged with Chaos energy, the Daemon Prince first casts Doom and Darkness on the Scar-Veteran observing the battlefield from the hill. The Scar-Veteran is then unable to withstand an assault on his spirit, and drops from his Cold One as a vegetable. Panicked, the Bastiladon turns and flees despite the efforts of his handlers, with both a nearby Cohort and the Oldblood mistakenly assuming that this signals a tactical withdrawal.

(IF on 4 dice Spirit Leech; I promptly rolled a 1 and the Scar-Veteran died. Then the Bastiladon rolled an 8 for his Panic test and a 10 for the distance, running off the board; the Oldblood rolled an 10 for his Panic, and due to Swiftstride from the Carpet also ran off the board, which meant that I had so far failed every critical roll of the game before moving a single model. Fantastic. Why where they all so close together, you ask? Because the Bastiladon gives +1 Initiative to protect from Purple Sun within a radius of 6”. At least my Priest didn't run off the board. My opponent graciously allowed me to read from the Hex Scroll as I had forgotten to use it, but rolled under his Wizard levels.)


Reinforcements have arrived. Can they turn the tide?

The rest of the Lizardmen army finally turns up, with the Slann and his Temple Guard taking central position to try and manage the situation, and the Battle-Standard Bearer arriving with the Skink-Kroxigor in the Chaos flank.

Roaring, the Ancient Stegadon attempted to charge the Nurgle Warriors but the distance was greater than expected, and his momentum ran out.

The Slann seeks to turn the surging magical energy back on the Daemon Prince, but he is too soon returned from the Realms of Chaos (another 1 on the Spirit Leech roll...). However, the Skinks demonstrate some remarkable accuracy when they kill off a whole unit of Warhounds, forcing both the nearby counterpart and the Ogres to withdraw in disarray – fearful of the poisoned Javelins that had claimed so many of their number last time. The recently arrived Skink-Kroxigor also managed to topple one Knight from his horse.


Charge!

The Nurgle Knights slam into the Skinks before them, barely taking notice before they hit the Temple Guard flank. Another unit of Skinks elects to withdraw rather than face the Skullcrushers (angles are off in the map), whilst a third unit of Skinks is decimated by the Nurgle Warriors and is forced to retreat.

The Daemon Prince lines up to push a Purple Sun through the Temple Guard, but a Dispel Scroll is produced.


Lizardmen redeploy.

Skullcrushers are harassed by Javelins, but no weak spots can be found in their impressive armour. The Winds of Magic are weak, and an attempt of Spirit Leech is successfully blocked.

The Nurgle Knight Champion steps up and issues a challenge, which the Slann accepts in an attempt to protect his Warriors. Several of them still fall, however, and one blow from an Ensorcelled Weapon penetrates the Slann's shield.


Surrounded!

Things look grim for the Lizardmen when both the Exalted and the Daemon Prince make it into the flank of the Temple Guard, who then find that their strength is sapped by Soulblight. Countless warriors are cut down, but the Skink attendant to the Slann successfully jabs the Knight Champion through the visor, toppling him from his horse!

The Nurgle Ogres complete their withdrawal from the battlefield, with the Warhounds not far behind.


A dark day for the Lizardmen...

The Daemon Prince falls upon the now exposed Slann, rending its magical shield to deal three further wounds. The Mage-Priest attempts to shield his Temple Guard with a regenerative spell, but he is clearly panicked and uses too much eneergy: the feedback felling three of the Guard that he was hoping to protect (although two Knights as well)! The Skink Priest attempts to take advantage of the clustered Chaos formation by enticing a comet down from the heavens, but this is stopped at all costs.

The Revered Guardian then falls beneath the blade of the Exalted, whilst the surviving Knight and his mount manage to kill three more. Although the Scar-Veteran hits the Knight's flank, the magical explosion blinds him and his attacks are all wide (not a single hit...). He turns to retreat, only to get cut down by the Knight (combat resolution put him at a snake eyes, and BSBs are auto-killed when they break from combat).

Sensing imminent disaster, the Slann uses the last of his arcane strength to telepot himself away from the battlefield; his brave Temple Guard dying to the last to cover his escape.

(Although the fleeing Ogres got me something, I was still down by nearly 1000 VP and about to lose another 1000+, my General and my level 4. Despite putting on a brave face so far, I called it there).

After-battle thoughts

This was the worst game of Warhammer that I have ever played. Lessons learned: roll better.

Next time!

Resurgent, the Chaos hordes descend upon the nearby Temple City ready to plunder its eldritch wealth. Arriving just ahead of them, the escaping Slann brings word to the cosmic nexus that connects all the Temple-Cities of Lustria of their impending doom. With great haste, a massive legion is assembled to end the invasion once and for all. The full might of the Chaos army stands before them.

For our next battle, my opponent and I decided that we would see the campaign off with a bang: with 6,000 points aside! I chose to Keep Watch and my opponent to Raise Morale: thus this battle would be a Battleline with Chaos getting one stratagem.

 

[GCPD]

Re: GCPD's Reports (8.3.2014 Lustria Campaign - Part 3!)

So I finally got a game in with the new no-Slann list! And not just one, but two in fact. These should be up in the next day or so.

 

[GCPD]

Re: GCPD's Reports (31.5.14 No Slann vs Wood Elves)

Alright, Game 1!

So these two games are practice for the upcoming Pompey Pillage tournament being held in a couple of months time. You can find the comp packs and everything here. Having fought the first scenario a couple of weeks ago in an Elf off (Wood vs Dark), we wanted to try the next two out. The first was Blood and Glory, with the differences being that the game didn't end when your army was broken and both sides could break each other, with the person doing it first scoring more points. My list can be found here, and my opponent was running:

Spellweaver Level 4 High with Acorn of Ages
Glade Captain with BSB, Hail of Doom Arrow, Enchanted Shield.
Waystalker with Bow of Loren

10 Glade Guard, Musician, Hagbane
10 Glade Guard, Musician, Trueflight.
10 Glade Guard, Musician, Trueflight.
5 Glade Riders, Hagbane
5 Glade Riders, Starfire

18 Wildwood Rangers, Full Command
5 Wild Riders, Standard
5 Wild Riders
5 Wardancers
5 Sisters of the Thorn, Full Command

7 Waywatchers
7 Waywatchers
Treeman


Deployment - grey arrows indicate Vanguard moves.

Terrain was decided by the maps in the scenario pack.... except, of course, my opponent had the Acorn and rolled a three. Trees everywhere!

So this is going to be tricky. From left to right – Venom thicket, Mysterious Forest, Venom Thicket, Mysterious Forest, Abyssal wood above it, Venom Thicket. The altar on the top left is impassible, the walls, hills and buildings are otherwise mundane.

Spells were Withering, Enfeebling, Miasma and Pit of Shades, whilst the Skink Priests collectively rolled Comet, Iceshard, Curse and Harmonic Convergence.

The bloat toad was placed on the Sisters. With a shot from the Captain that couldn't penetrate the Oldblood's tough hide, the battle was on!


Opening shots

The skies darkened as the Wood Elves unleashed a hail of shots that wiped out the Ripperdactyls and two Terradons on the right flank, but the Lizardmen line held. Unfortunately for the Asrai, the Waystalker failed to wound the Skink Priest directly opposite him.

An early Pit of Shades was cast, although the Skink Priest read his Scroll of Shielding and only a handful of Temple Guard perished.



The Lizardmen retaliated as the Terradons swept over the Waywatchers, dropping their rocks which killed several, whilst the Chameleon Skinks moved up to finish off the rest with their blowpipes – although it took the Bastiladon's beam to kill the Waystalker and the last Waywatcher.

The Skink Priest living a charmed existence attempt to incite a Comet from the heavens, but this was dispelled by the cautious Spellweaver.


Charge of the light brigade

Both Wild Riders spurred their mounts on and charged, easily dispatching the Skink units before them and overrunning. On the left, the Sisters also kept pace by slipping through the Lizardman line to cast Curse of Anrahir on the Temple Guard.

Reinforcements also arrived with both units of Glade Riders moving onto the field, putting a wound on the Bastiladon. However, the rest of the Wood Elf shooting proved just as anticlimactic as before, with only four Skinks dropping from the Skirmisher unit.


Comet!

Between the Lizardmen's beam and the Skinks garrisoning the tower, all of the Sisters were cut down. The other Skink unit reformed and walked backwards out of the charge arc of the marauding Wild Riders, hurling their javelins at the Hagbane riders and dropping two. Still cursed, the Temple Guard elected to hold their position.

The Skink Priest finally managed to drop a comet, placing it where it would strike most of the Wood Elf line.


The Comet strikes!

Fearing the impending comet, the Wood Elves scattered. But the efforts of the Wardancers' were in vein, as its sudden impact wiped them out completely, panicking the nearby Glade Guard. However, the Skink Skirmishers found themselves too close as well and were wiped out.

Both units of Wild Riders swung back towards the centre, and the Glade Riders charged the flank of the Bastiladon – but they were unable to penetrate its thick hide, whilst two were claimed by the Skink crew and the monster, and they broke.

The Spellweaver's unit opened up and killed the Terradons, whilst various shooting killed a few more Saurus Warriors.



The Lizardmen line pushed forward, with the Oldblood joining his counterpart in the Saurus unit, and the Bastiladon and surviving Terradon maneuvering to cover the Temple Guard flank.

A second Comet was attempted, but was dispelled.


The fury of Quango!

The Wild Riders and Treeman both charged into the Saurus flank. The Oldblood on foot cracked his Egg, with the bursting magic claiming all the Wild Riders before they could swing. Next the mounted Oldblood drank his Potion of Strength and stepped up to the Treeman, smashing the ancient spirit into kindling.

The other unit of Wildriders hit the Bastiladon and skewered the creature on their spears, overrunning into the Temple Guard.


Disaster!

Both Skink Priests summoned all their power and dropped multiple spells on the Temple Guard and the Wild Riders – although a number of the warriors were felled, they cut the Elves down completely.

Elsewhere, the Saurus charged the Rangers. The mounted Oldblood cut the Captain down, breaking the Wood Elves, but the other Oldblood and the Saurus were unable to match his ferocity. In return, almost all the Saurus were cut down by the Elves, with the General being chased down as he tried to flee!


Not even a problem

The full might of the Wood Elf archery was turned on the surviving Oldblood, but even though he was cursed by a Withering, he managed to shrug them all off!



The Temple Guard charged the Spellweaver, who elected to withdraw rather than face their might – only for his bodyguard to panic and withdraw from the field.

Although there was still a turn left to play, neither of us were able to achieve much more.

Result: A 13-7 win to the Lizardmen, with an additional 6 points scored for breaking the Wood Elves.

Post-game Thoughts

Well, I'm not disappointed with that result and I did get the bonus mission for breaking my opponent without giving up my own. Admittedly, I was very lucky that the Wood Elf shooting was quite poor in the early game. Going second against a gun line, particularly a Wood Elf one, I had accepted the fact that I was going to lose stuff. Its a shame that the Rippers never made it to combat, but I would rather lose just them than all the Terradons. But I was able to eliminate or mitigate the Waywatchers after that which took a lot of pressure of. Killing the Treeman and the Wild Riders before they got to swing was just brilliant! And I loved the 20 strong Skink units for the amount of firepower that they could chuck out.

Still, there were two significant mistakes. The first was exposing the rear of the Temple Guard. I should have swung this unit round to face the Wild Riders, trusting the Saurus and Oldbloods to hold the right flank. I even sent the Bastiladon and Terradon out to guard their rear without realising that the Bastiladon offered them an easy overrun! I was very lucky not to be more punished by this, but a strong magic phase in the previous turn allowed me to get all my buffs and debuffs off. Whilst this didn't really mitigate the damage that the Wild Riders were doing, it meant that my 4 Temple Guard in base contact with just 8 attacks, plus Predatory Fighter, went absolutely mental and cut them all down before my BSB even got a chance to strike. A lesson for both of us on what Wild Riders can and cannot do, I think (to be fair, if I had been him I probably would have taken the same charge).

The second mistake was in committing the Saurus block to the Rangers. Now, in my defence, my luck was terrible. The mounted Oldblood killed the BSB, which was great as it broke his Fortitude which is what I was going for. But then the one on foot only hit with one of his 5 attacks and the surviving Saurus didn't do much better. After losing 7, the combat resolution was 10 vs 5, the Saurus had been whittled down to be without any ranks or Steadfast, and the rest was history. This was a significant swing that cost me some 4 battle points. Still, other than buffing this unit, I'm not sure what I could have done – had I not charged something, its entirely possible that I would have lost the unit anyway to all the close range shooting.

Overall though I really enjoyed the list and I'm looking forward to playing it a lot more. Game 2 coming up shortly!

 

[GCPD]

Re: GCPD's Reports (31.5.14 No Slann vs Wood Elves)

Okay, game 2!

This scenario featured a supply cart in the centre of the field that needs to be captured. I suggest reading the scenario pack linked in my previous post to understand the rules in play but, in essence, you can't scout or vanguard within 12” of it, any non-Infantry or Monstrous-Infantry which picks it up can't march, anything which does pick it up is Stubborn, characters can't pick it up, and its dropped if the unit is destroyed or flees for any reason.

For this scenario, my opponent swapped some of his arrows around and exchanged Shadow for High Magic to see if it performed any better.

Spells were Soul Quench, Hand of Glory, Fiery Convocation and Unmaking.
The Skinks got Wind Blast, Iceshard Blizzard, Curse of the Midnight Wind and Chain Lightning, a spell selection which I was not entirely happy with.



The two woods surrounding the objective were placed as Venom Thickets. In this game the Bloat Toad was placed on the Spellweaver's unit. I have indicated the cart's position with the blue marker.



Once again a hail of arrows filled the air, and winged reptiles fell from the sky across the Lizardman flank. The Spellweaver attempted to destroy some of the magical equipment carried by the Oldblood general, but the nearby Skink Priest read from his Dispel Scroll. In the centre, the Wood Elf line surged forwards with the Wild Rider unit grabbing the cart, whilst on the flank their counterparts penetrated deep into the Lizardman lines.



Seeing an opportunity, the Oldblood commanded his Warriors to charge and they burst through the Venom Thicket to smash into the Wild Riders. Sadly, the Oldblood stumbled on a root and was wounded, and several of the Saurus never emerged from the Thicket, but once engaged with the Wood Elves the Egg of Quango was cracked, dealing enough wounds to wipe the Elves out completely!

Elsewhere, the Lizardmen advance was much more cautious, wary of the open ground ahead of them. The surviving Terradons flew over the Waywatchers, taking revenge for their fallen comrades by dropping their rocks, and with the aid of the Chameleon Skinks all but one Waywatcher and the Waystalker were killed.



The Wardancers charged the nearby Chameleon Skinks, who elected to withdraw and so startled were they that they fled right off the field. Nearby, the Wild Riders charged the Skirmisher Skinks, and although they lost two on the way in to poisoned javelins, they cut them down with ease to carry themselves into the Bastiladon. This caused the Skinks occupying the tower to panic and withdraw. Behind them, two units of Glade Riders arrived to complete the encirclement by the Wood Elf cavalry.

In the centre, the Wood Elves redeployed rather than face the might of the Oldblood, and dropped a number of Saurus with their arrows. The Spellweaver then destroyed the general's Sword of Might.



Rather than face the Wood Elf line alone, the Saurus Warriors elected to withdraw and marched back towards the Lizardmen lines, losing a couple more to the Venom Thicket. The Temple Guard elected to reform and face the marauding Elf cavalry, although the Bastiladon killed one Wild Rider and the Skink crew another!

The Skinks in the corner rallied, and the Priest there managed to cast a Chain Lightning on the Wardancers which killed 3 and bounced to the Rangers, though it only killed two and stopped there.



One unit of Glade Riders joined the combat against the Bastiladon, though the threat of its mighty tail startled the horses. One Elf was knocked from his steed, and the final Wild Rider was killed.

Another salvo from the Wood Elf line saw the Waystalker kill one Skink Priest, whilst the withdrawing Saurus Warriors fell in droves.



The Skink formation wheeled, and the Saurus reformed to go very narrow in order to pass through the gap that they had opened up.

The Temple Guard hit the flank of the Glade Riders and cut them all down with no losses taken. This ferocity panicked the nearby unit of Riders who fled from the field.

The Skinks reoccupied the tower and launched a salvo of javelins at the depleted Wardancers, turning the two of them into pincushions. This was too much for the Waywatchers, and they scrambled to get away from the Terradon that had landed behind them.



All the archers opened up on the Saurus, including the Hail of Doom Arrow, but when all was said and done one Saurus and the Oldblood were still standing!



The Saurus continued to withdraw behind the shelter of the Skink Corhort, whilst the Temple Guard repositioned to face the might of the Treeman. The Waywatchers were finally killed off in the same manner as the Wardancers: a hail of poisoned Javelins.



The Treeman charged the Bastiladon, who chose to withdraw rather than face it.

The Sisters finally managed to kill the last Saurus, and the cart was dropped!



The Skinks and Temple Guard reformed to face the Sisters, who fell under a barrage of poisoned Javelins.

Turn 6

In the final turn, the Wood Elf archers opened up on the Skink Cohort but weren't able to kill them all, whilst the Temple Guard picked up the cart.

Result: a 10-10 draw, with the Lizardmen scoring 6 bonus points for collecting the cart.

Post-battle thoughts.

Again, I'm not too disappointed with this as a 10-10 draw seems reasonable, as a mistake which I think we both made was to concentrate too much on the objective and not actually winning the game itself. My plan was to pick it up with the Skinks and push the Suarus towards his lines, but once the Wild Riders offered such an easy charge I couldn't resist. At that point the Saurus were so exposed that I would be advancing peicemeal, which is simply a mistake against a gun line.

More specifically, allowing the Wild Riders that overrun into the Bastiladon was just silly. But otherwise I was pretty happy with how it went. It was unfortunate that I lost all my fliers to shooting again, but that's going to happen, and because my spell selection was so poor the Bastialdon's laser beam was easily stopped all the time – especially once the Skink Priest with Chain Lightning was dead and I had no further ranged threat (Wind Blast is as garbage as it looked, sadly...).

One thing to note: I could not make 5+ saves on my Saurus for love nor money. In fact, I don't think I made one until Turn 4, and was removing models by the handful. This is a shame as they almost made it away, with the last model literally dying to one poisoned Javelin off the Sisters. That's a 300 point swing which would have seen a minor 12-8 or 11-9 win to me.

 

[GCPD]

Re: GCPD's Reports (31.5.14 No Slann vs Wood Elves)

So, long time no update! I have been working hard to get my army ready for the Pompey Pillage tournament held here in the UK this weekend.

A quick snap of the army that I took, using the double Oldblood list above:



(bonus points for spotting the no.1 best animated movie)

As my first competitive event I had set my expectations low, and pretty much met them. Spoiler alert: two 20-0s and one 13-7 day one, but fought hard for two 11-9s on day two which went in my favour. Great games all round and wonderful opponents. I learned a ton, including relearning everything that I thought I knew, and had a blast despite a terrible performance. Finished up 60 out of 72 players, which I think is very reasonable after the thrashing I took day 1 - and despite bouncing along the bottom tables, I somehow managed to dodge the very last table all weekend!

As/when I manage to, I fully intend to get some battle reports up. But the key findings were:

1) I missed the Slann. Although the Priests often did well, their range of spells was limited and I often felt they were lacking. 6-dicing Comet/Chain Lightning only gets you so far...
2) The mounted characters desperately need something with LoS to hide in.
3) Ripperdactyls were, sadly, the big fail. With just one unit they were very easy to take off by the plethora of BS shooting and magic missiles. They did outstandingly well in one game and got shot off before combat in 4 others.
4) Despite getting shot off more often than not, Terradons are awesome.
5) Range. Outside of Thunderbolt/Chain Lightning, the only ranged attacks over 12" was the Bastiladon's laser which, sadly, also failed me all weekend. A Slann with a bunch of magic missiles, or even just a Ruby Ring on a Skink Priest, would have been extremely useful at mopping up points.
6) The Oldblood on foot is 100 wasted points. For what he does when he sees combat, a Scar-Vet with the Egg would do just as well I feel (plus a Sword of Striking for those times when you flub your dice...). The Vet will be worse at 1+ elite stuff, but they aren't great at that anyway.
7) Saurus Warriors are pretty bad, but weren't terrible. They can do a reasonable job at going and getting stuck in with something mediocre, so long as they have a Saurus character backing them up. They might work better at 20 though, as buildings tend to be comp capped at that size (also, more Skinks!).
8) Purple Sun hurts.
9) If I'm going to bring a big Temple Guard combat block, I really need to work more on getting it stuck in...
10) Leadership 8 is reeeeeeeeally low, and there's a reason most everyone tries to get Ld10 at least. The Leadership banner would have served me MUCH better than Banner of Swiftness, which I was only able to exploit occasionally.

This means, sad to say, that the Slann is going to be back in the list. But because I'm still a little funky, I'm thinking of running him with 3xChannel on 5s with Light, and pairing him up with Tetto. This gives me a real toolbox without, I feel, an over-reliance on magic. With BUrning Gaze and bubbling Speed of Light I can also drop the Bastiladon for that Purple Sun protection and flaming magic missile.

 

[GhostWarrior]

Pompey Pillage Results

GCPD,

Sorry to hear that you didn't have better success at the event, but good on ya for taking something out of your comfort zone!

Off hand, how many practice games would you say you had with the list you took? My experience has been that this plays a key role in the performance of an army and whether or not it reaches its fullest potential.

Currently, I don't see the value in taking foot Saurus Characters, unless it is advantageous for the comp/scenarios of an event - looks like you had a similar experience.

 

[GCPD]

Re: GCPD's Reports (31.5.14 No Slann vs Wood Elves)

Uhh I think it was about half a dozen. No amount of practice games would have improved anything though - as my first event I was completely out of my depth regardless.

The one on foot is there to give the block some punch. Without him, they can only really take on low quality stuff. With him in tow they become a lot better against a wider array of targets - whilst they won't be able to go toe to toe to Skullcrushers, they can really start to grind things out. The Saurus will probably die in droves, but the ones that survive will give the character enough static CR that he can keep swinging.

For instance, with the Oldblood they were able to grind out a unit of Demigryphs (with a little help from a Haunted Mansion), a block of buffed up Crypt Horrors, and fought to a standstill a Black knight bus with a Quickblood/Red Fury Vampire Lord. Ideally, this would have freed up my Temple Guard to go fight something else, whilst using my chaff to win them favourable match ups. I could probably do the same job with more chaff, but a Saurus anvil led by a character appeals to me.

He carries the Egg of Quango to help in this role - either by killing off things that would threaten my Saurus (ie Elves), or contributing to the overall Combat Resolution. It didn't work out for me at the weekend - but that just means I've got a lot of luck stored up!

 

[GCPD]

Re: GCPD's Reports (31.5.14 No Slann vs Wood Elves)

Played a game against the Wood Elves tonight with the new list. Did not go well. Three forests produced from the Acron. I was faced with the prospect of starting in some woods and running through turn 1, or starting in free space and fighting through them - chose the former. Only got one Vanguard from Tetto, which couldn't make anything happen due to scouting Waywatchers. Lost the first turn (its immensely frustrating fighting an MSU army, but not getting the +1 because of all their scouts and ambushers...), Treeman and Drycha showed up in my deployment zone turn 1. Went downhill from there.

Highlights: Speed of Light Scar-Vet kills a Treeman in one go.

Lowlights: 4 Cold One Riders and two Scar Vets go into a forest, only 1 Cold One Rider and the Vets come out thanks to 3 failed Dangerous Terrain tests in one roll.

Tetto didn't cast a single spell. I'm starting to question his worth. Whilst the Vanguard ability is good, I'm not sure its worthwhile with the Slann sucking up all the power dice.

Edit: Okay, I've digested this a bit more overnight and can see I made one critical mistake. After Drycha teleported her unit of dryads and Treeman into my deployment zone, I attempted to scatter out of the Treemans arc. Temple Guard jumped into a nearby Wizards Tower (which I was hoping to use as a bridge into the Wood Elf deployment zone), Skinks scattered, and Saurus turned to face him on the assumption that a bunch of S5 attacks aren't too bad and I can probably tarpit it a while (only missing that I had left an easy overrun for a unit of Moonstoning Wildwood rangers). Cold Ones went into the flank of Drycha and took her off, failed their restrain test, lost 3 models on the pursuit through the forest; Treeman and Rangers went into the Saurus and although I assassinated the BSB, lost handily and the unit fled; the Temple Guard spent one turn in the Tower then had to walk back out the way they came to deal with the Rangers anyway.

What I should have done was turn the Temple Guard to face the Treeman, dropped a Speed of Light, and taken it off with the PoSblood, then bait the Rangers out of the forest with some Skinks and put them up against the Saurus, who do remarkably well against 1 attack T3 6+ models.

On balance, then, I have only to blame a Poor Tactical Decision - which I much prefer over frustrating dice rolls as it means that I can actually learn from the mistake. If I get time there'll be a battle report up tonight, but I'm off on vacation from tomorrow so might not be able to.

 

[GCPD]

Right, lets get some reports up! Starting with the one that I summarised above.

Lizardmen:

Slann with Harmonic Convergence, Becalming Cogitations, Channelling Staff, BSB.
Oldblood with Sword of Striking, Potion of Strength, Enchanted Shield, light armour.

Scar-Veteran with Armour of Destiny, great weapon, Cold One.
Scar-Veteran with Dawn Stone, Dragonhelm, great weapon, Cold One.
Tetto’ekko

20 Saurus Warriors, Full Command.
18 Skink Corhort, Full Command.
12 Skink Cohort, Full Command.
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers

24 Temple Guard, Full Command, Razor Standard
6 Cold One Riders, Standard, spears.
3 Terradons.

Wood Elves

Spellweaver with Level 3, Shadow, Acorn of Ages.

Drycha
Noble with BSB, Enchanted Shield, Moonstone of the Hidden Ways, bow.

11 Glade Guard, Hagbane, musician.
10 Glade Guard, Trueflight, musician.
10 Glade Guard, Trueflight, musician.
11 Dryads

5 Wild Riders
5 Wild Riders
5 Sisters of Twilight, standard, musician.
18 Wildwood Rangers, Full Command.

Treeman
6 Waywatchers
6 Waywatchers

Slann: Burning Gaze, Speed of Light, Timewarp, Net.
Spellweaver: Miasma, Pit of Shades, snipe.
Drycha: Enfeebling Foe, the Withering.



The Lizardmen bunched up on the left, with two combat units deployed forward, and the Temple Guard looking to use the tower to avoid the dangerous terrain and get into the Wood Elf half of the table. However, only one roll was made with Tetto’s Vanguard, and this was partly denied due to the close proximity of the Waywatchers.

Drycha and the Dryads and the Treeman were all held in reserve.



The Wood Elves redeployed slightly, and both the Dryads with Drycha and the Treeman emerged from the woods. Using his Moonstone, the BSB was also able to redeploy the Rangers much closer to the Lizardmen lines.

An Enfeebling on the Cold Ones was stopped, but due to Miasma their movement was dropped to 4. This resulted in a miscast which meant a wound on Drycha. The Wood Elf shooting could not live up to its reputation and only two Cold One Riders were killed from the hail of arrows which came their way.



Although it would mean entering the Venom Thicket, the Saurus Cavalry saw an opportunity and went into the flank of the Dryads. Meanwhile, the rest of the Lizardmen army manouvered to avoid the Treeman, with only the Saurus Warriors bravely positioning to take him on. The Temple Guard entered the Wizard’s tower where the Slann gained knowledge of all Light spells.

A Speed of Light on the Cold Ones was stopped, but this allowed a protective Pha’s. Some Rangers were felled by poisoned javelins, and one even inflicted a wound on the Treeman, though rocks dropped from the Terradons were unable to do any damage.

One Scar-Veteran was able to cut Drycha down in a challenge, whilst the other killed two Dryads. With no wounds suffered, the Dryads were broken from combat – however, despite the presence of Tetto nearby, the Saurus could not restrain themselves and pursued (3 6s on the test!), losing three of their number to the Venom Thicket (even worse luck!).



The Rangers hit the Skinks, losing some of their number to javelins, before overrunning into the Saurus Warriors simultaneously with the Treeman (this was a silly mistake with the Skinks and I left an easy overrun of 5” to clip the Warriors). So shocked were the nearby Cohort at the sudden massacre of the Skinks that they withdraw from the battlefield (and I’m punished for my mistake twice over... note that I messed up the map here: the Cohort was deployed behind the Skirmishers not the Saurus). Whilst the Saurus were able to kill the BSB out of his unit, they could not harm the Treeman and several were cut down, breaking the unit.

The last Cold One Rider was shot off by the combined fire of several archer units, and the Dryads rallied.



The surviving Scar-Vets joined Tetto’s unit, although one stumbled on a root, whilst the Temple Guard retraced their steps to deal with the rampaging Treeman and Rangers. One Terradon ran in front of the Treeman in case the right spells could not be cast, but after a big Burning Gaze on the Treeman was blocked, the Skinks with Tetto and the Vets (great band name!) received a Speed of Light.

The combined fire of surviving Skink shooting miraculously managed to take 3 wounds off the Treeman.



The Treeman charged the Terradon who elected to flee, but only went 2” (three 1s!) and was caught. This allowed the Treeman to overrun into the Skinks along with the Dryads – only to find himself in a trap, for he was unable to inflict any wounds with his tree whack due to Speed of Light, and was promptly smashed into kindling. The other Vet and the Skinks were able to kill enough Dryads to win the combat, but they held.

In the magic phase, a big Pit of Shades was cast on the Temple Guard. Despite two attempts from the Slann to dispel it (5 vs 3 dice), some 12 of the guardians were killed. More were then felled by arrows until only 3 remained out of a unit that once numbered 24.



The surviving Temple Guard charged the Rangers, whilst the fleeing Saurus rallied. A big magic phase came up (12 dice at last!), but the Lizardmen efforts were thwarted by an early miscast on a bubble Speed of Light (using only 4 dice...) which resulted in Dimensional Cascade (map is off - it was able to hit the Skink unit). The Slann narrowly avoided being sucked into the Warp, whilst only one Temple Guard remained. Nonetheless, the Oldblood was able to cut down enough Rangers to break the unit and they were run down. The Scar-Vets were also able to finally break the Dyads, although they could not quite catch them.



Sensing opportunity, the Wild Riders charged into the rear of the Slann and his bodyguard. They were able to inflict one wound on the Slann and killed the last Temple Guard for the loss of three of their own. Elsewhere, the Wild Riders leapt the Blazing Barricade with no wounds (despite three being inflicted, all three 6++ wards were made! This isn't shown on the map, but is roughly where the Saurus are), cutting down the Saurus and scattering them from the field.

Combined archery took the Skink unit down to one remaining model and put a wound on Tetto.



The Oldblood finished up the Wild Riders, whilst Tetto and his bodyguards attempted to withdraw from the barrage. The Slann was able to cast Burning Gaze with the aid of another Irresistable Force, wounding his companion, but five of the 6 Waywatchers in the tower were sizzled and the survivor fled.

We called the game at this point.

Conclusions:

As you can see, I was quite efficiently taken apart.

As noted in the previous post, going into this game I planned to use the tower to safely get from one side of the table to the other without suffering dangerous terrain penalties. To that end I deliberately chose the side that had the most forests, as this seemed like a pretty imposing fortress (albeit, one made of trees. A forestress?) due to the positioning of the forests, and one which I didn’t fancy assaulting. I did this knowing that Drycha was in play, and I still believe that this was the best plan. If anyone can suggest a better alternative, please do.

That being said, my critical error was not adjusting the plan to cope with Deep Striking Treeman. Usually, I have found that its better to stick with a plan rather than abandon it, but I think this was one of those exceptions to that rule: I could have reformed the Temple Guard to face the Treeman in a line, so I could still benefit from the Wizards Tower or shuffle sideways into it if necessary. Alternatively, I could reform from the combat in a conga and march to either side of the tower – being Stubborn, the formation isn’t entirely relevant, facing MSU Elves ranks aren’t entirely relevant, the tower and formation should cut down on the number of models that can get into base contact, and with the right buffs we know from experience that Temple Guard can see off any number of Elves. As it was, I made a poor attempt of shuffling things around that just made a mess of my lines.

Having stuck with the plan when it should have been abandoned, I then compounded the error even further by abandoning it a turn later than I should have. At this point I should have just gone after the archers – yes, there would have been lots of shooting, at least initially, and then fleeing, but fleeing units aren’t shooting. It would have also shifted the pressure back onto my opponent rather than on me, bringing his firebase and general’s bunker into focus. The Skinks and Scar-Vets could have handled the Dryads and the Treeman, as they did, and the Saurus can take on Rangers (so long as they aren’t in a forest).

That being said, my luck was pretty abysmal: miscasting three times when I didn’t use more than 4 dice per spell all game (there was an early miscast which killed some Temple Guard not recorded above); failing a restrain by rolling three 6s, then failing three dangerous terrain tests; the Skinks running off the table; the Terradon only rolling 3 for flight (turned out alright, but still); only getting 1 Vanguard move; my opponent getting all three Trees from the Acorn (again!); the direct hit from the big Pit of Shades... etc, etc. But many of these were just punishing poor play: for instance, if I hadn’t moved the Temple Guard into the tower, the Cold Ones could have re-rolled that restrain test, as would have the Skinks, due to BSB range; if I hadn’t been so greedy with power dice, I could have just bubbled Speed of Light (which I started doing later) to avoid the Pits, etc. So, on balance, it’s good to have identified what I did wrong for the future.

So what did go well?
Lore of Light – particularly, Speed of Light. This is such a good spell for Lizardmen, and Saurus in general. I do not regret going back to Light.
The PoSblood – his Sword of Striking really helped in cutting down (geddit?) on fumbling his dice, even if I didn’t drink his potion. Reckon he’s probably a better investment than the Bastiladon and two extra Temple Guard that used to be in the list.
Scar-Vets. Two of them never fail to impress.
Saurus Warriors. Again, this is undoubtedly a result of my expectations being hammered, and yes they did lose both the combats they were in, and their relative success is probably more a damning indictment of Treemen and Rangers, but still – they took a Treeman to the face and Rangers to the flank, managed to assassinate the BSB out of the unit, and weren’t completely wiped out. Not bad. Where my experience with them to date has largely been shovelling handfuls off after a Purple Sun or watching them bounce off a unit of Nurgle Warriors, I’m starting to wonder whether I’ve been underestimating them (not enough to bring more than 20, though).

What didn’t go well?
Cold One Riders – half of them died to dangerous terrain tests, the other half were shot off by Waywatchers. Didn’t get to use Spears. Wasn’t really a fair test of them, though, and Wood Elves are a bad match up for cav of any kind.
Tetto – was only able to Vanguard one unit some 5” forwards. Only think I re-rolled two 1s across the game. Still brings a lot to the list, but not as enamoured with him as I was originally. In particular, I don’t find he has much use as a spellcaster, and indeed in this game he didn’t cast a single spell. Whilst his Loremaster is useful for giving redundancy in buffs/debuffs, I prefer and prioritise the Light Spells. Similarly, whilst he does bring two magic missiles they are both high casting value, and neither are particularly worthwhile against Elves – making Burning Gaze the priority to stop. I can drop him for a Level 1 Beasts Priest packing a Ruby Ring and a Dispel Scroll, and still have some 70 points to play with; or, with a little bit of tweaking, get Blasty back in the list with his own cheap, and more importantly flaming, magic missile.
Channeling Staff/Harmonic – only ever generated one dice at a time, and sometimes not even that. Still probably worth the points.
Becalming Cogitations – only needed the re-roll once, to stop Pit, and needed an IF which I didn’t get. Still probably mandatory without a Scroll.

Coming Up Next: Can Lizardmen Run An Ogre Gunline? Does Blackpowder Beat Magic? Just How Much Do Ogres Love The Smell of Roasting Skink In The Morning? All these questions answered, and more!

 

[GCPD]

Lizardmen vs Ogre Kingdoms

So this was a 2K game at a local club against, using a cut down version of the list.

Lizardmen

Slann with Harmonic Convergence, Channelling Staff, BSB, Light.

Scar-Veteran with Armour of Destiny, great weapon, Cold One.
Scar-Veteran with Dawn Stone, Dragonhelm, great weapon, Cold One.
Skink Priest, Beasts, Dispel Scroll

20 Saurus Warriors, Full Command.
18 Skink Corhort, Full Command.
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers

24 Temple Guard, Full Command, Razor Standard
6 Cold One Riders.

Ogre Kingdoms

Firebelly, Level 2 General, Dispel Scorll
Firebelly Level 1, Hellheart
Bruiser BSB, Great Weapon, unknown equipment.

5 Leadbelchers, Full Command
5 Leadbelchers, Full Command
5 Ogres, Great Weapons, Full Command
5 Ogres, Great Weapons, Full Command
4 x 10 Gnoblars

3 Maneaters, handguns, Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame, Poison and Stubborn.

Ironblaster.

Spells:
Slann: Pha’s Protection, Speed of Light, Timewarp, Burning Gaze.
Skink Priest: Wildform

Level 2: Fulminating Flame Cage, Sword of Rhuin
Level 1: Fireball



The Lizardmen deployed to prevent any Maneaters from Scouting into their deployment zone; however, this was unnecessary and left the Lizardmen line stretched out with the Saurus Cavalry exposed.



The line pushed forwards, except for the Bastiladon which repositioned to aim at the Ironblaster. In the magic phase, its beam was able to inflict one wound [a better target would have been Leadbelchers or Maneaters, as I rolled a 6 which would have dropped their BS by 1, but I had deployed poorly and wasn’t able to get in range/line of sight). The Slann was able to bubble Pha’s Protection.

The central Skinks managed to inflict one wound on the Cat at maximum range (or this was done on a stand and shoot next turn, I don’t remember too clearly).



The Gnoblars, Cats and Maneaters all pushed forwards, whilst the Ironblaster repositioned to get an exposed flank shot on the Cavalry. A medium level fireball killed fully half the Skinks in the bunker, whilst a Fulminating Flame Cage struck the central Skinks and killed several. However, critically the casting of Flaming Sword was stopped.

Then the Ogre gunline opened up. First, the Ironblaster took its shot – but misfired, and would be unable to fire in its next turn as well. On the left, a hail of lead cut down half of the Cavalry (I think), but the Maneaters were unable to wound the Bastiladon.



The Scar-Vets bailed out of the depleted Cavalry to join up with the Temple Guard in the centre, leaving their comrades to run the gunline alone. As the central Skinks attempted to move, all but one were caught in the Flame Cage. The survivove ran into point blank range of the Cat, but the death of his comrades unnevered him and his aim was off.

In the magic phase, the Bastiladon inflicted a wound on the Maneaters, but a second casting of Pha’s was blocked after the Hellheart was used. Fortunately, only a wound was inflicted on the Skink Priest.



With a bellowing warcry, one unit of Ogres went into the Saurus. Gnoblars moved up to prevent the Temple Guard from joining the flank, whilst the Cat attempted to kill off the last Skink in his path (who again flung his javelin wide of the mark), and another fancied having a go at the Bastiladon.

All Ogre power dice were rolled at Flaming Sword, though this was blocked when the Skink Priest read from his Dispel Scroll.

Another hail of shots from the Leadbelchers left only two Cavalry standing, whilst fully decimating all the Skinks.

The Ogres trampled a number of Saurus Warriors underfoot, though lost one of their own and the Saurus held. Elsewhere, the Skink and Cat managed to kill each other with simultaneous blows: but this was too much for the Gnoblars, who both fled – opening the path for the nearby Temple Guard. The other Cat faired slightly better, with the Bastiladon only managing one wound, and the combat was tied.



The Temple Guard joined the combat, whilst the last two Cav thundered into a unit of Leadbelchers.

Although the Slann gathered a great many power dice to himself, a bubble Speed of Light was blocked by a Dispel Scroll, and all the Ogre dice was used to prevent Timewarp. The Skink Priest failed to cast Wildform, so only a Pha’s protection was cast on the Saurus.

Between the Saurus and their mounts, an Ogre who had been previously wounded by the Skinks was killed. But all the Cavalry were killed in return. One Scar-Vet challenged out the Ogre champion and killed him, though took a wound for his troubles. Between the Saurus and the Temple Guard, the Firebelly and all but one Ogre were killed – though the Firebelly used his breath to kill a number of Temple Guard.* The Bastiladon finally killed the Cat.

*This threw up an interesting rules query, posted in that subforum. As I recall, we played it that both units still needed to make a Pursuit test even though the only remaining model was a Standard Bearer, which dies automatically.



The Maneaters charged the Bastiladon, who they wounded twice and broke, whilst all remaining Ogre units turned to bring their weight of fire on the Temple Guard. Even the General ran out to use his flaming breath. The fleeing Gnoblars rallied.

The Ironblaster took a shot against the Temple Guard, killing one of the Scar-Vets, though the other blocked the cannon ball with his Ward. When the smoke of the Leadbelchers cleared, only 12 Temple Guard were still standing.



The Bastiladon rallied, and the Saurus headed towards the Maneaters. On the other flank, the Skinks turned and lobbed their javelins at the Cat, killing it and panicking the nearby Gnoblars. In the centre, the Temple Guard reformed to face the Ogre line alone, shielded by a Pha’s Protection, whilst a big Burning Gaze took three further wounds off the Ironblasterr. The Bastiladon Engine fired and killed a Maneater.



The Leadbelchers closed in, killing another 4 Temple Guard with their shots whilst one unit ran down the Skinks, who rolled snake eyes for their flee. However, the Ironblaster was prevented from firing thanks to Pha’s. The Gnoblars rallied and Maneaters ran the Bastiladon off the table, just missing the board edge themselves.



The Scar-Vet charged out of the Temple Guard into the Gnoblars (Leadbelchers weren’t in his arc, sadly), though was only able to kill two, with the unit backing off behind him. The Saurus charged the Maneaters, catching their rear.

The Slann was able to kill the Ironblaster with a low level Burning Gaze.



The Leadbelchers failed a charge into the flank of the Temple Guard, whilst the rest closed in for a last turn charge. All but one Maneater was left standing.

This time the Leadbelchers were only able to kill 3 Temple Guard, leaving just 5 and the Slann. Once again, the Scar-Vet was only able to kill two Gnoblars, though this was enough to break their nerve and they fled to be run down with the Vet in hot pursuit.



Throwing caution to the wind, the last of the Temple Guard charged the Ogres rather than face the Leadbelchers for another round. They were invigorated en route by Speed of Light, and with an impressive display of savagery cut down two whole Ogres and left one on a single wound – which was promptly taken off when the Slann’s Skink attendant poked it in the eye. The remaining Ogres then killed all but the Revered Guardian, though the damage was done – without ranks, the unit was broken and cut down. This sudden reversal panicked the nearby Ogres who fled, despite the urgings of the BSB!

There was further cause for jubliation when the Saurus killed the second Maneater, seizing the unit’s Standard as he attempted to flee.



The Gnoblars attempted to charge the Scar-Vet’s flank, though at the last second their courage faltered. The remaining Ogres on the board turned in an attempt to bring the Temple Guard down – though a Flame Cage went awry when three 1s were produced to cast. Then the last three Leadbelchers opened up, but despite a score of shots only 4 hits were made, of which only one wounded – and that on the Slann, who calmly shielded it with his ward. With that dramatic turn of events, the game came to an end.

Result: Lizardmen Victory!

What a great game! From a somewhat shaky start with some poor deployment decisions from me, through to a promising looking mid-game where it seemed the Ogre line might crack, then the decimation of the Lizardmen centre, right up to everything hanging in the balance on almost the final roll. Thanks to the Temple Guard hanging on, I managed to sneak a win by some 400 points. As ever, onto the analysis.

I think its safe to say that I was very lucky this game. As I’ll get on to below, my early game was very poor and I was luckier not to be punished even more for it. Offering the Ironblaster a flank shot at the Cav is simply inexcusable, but telling of my inexperience facing artillery. I didn’t really know what to do with the Skink Skirmishers this game, which led to using one to give cover for the Cav which they weren’t able to do due to the size differences, and effectively threw both units away.

What worked well:
Light Magic. Once again, Speed of Light came through for me in the key combat phase, but Pha’s was the real winner in this game. When it went off, it really hampered the Ogre shooting (including stopping an Ironblaster from sniping out a Scar-Vet) – and when it didn’t, it sucked up dispel dice. I’ve been revising down my expectations for magic to concentrate on the key spells that I need, rather than the old 7th edition book trickle approach, and it is really paying off even with limited power dice.
Convergence & Channeling Staff – I finally got the infamous double channel, which was great, but otherwise I got an additional dice in all but one magic phase.
Bastiladon. Great to have this guy back, as he just contributes in so many phases. Nothing outstanding, but he chipped away and kept a unit of Maneaters distracted for the whole game – a good exchange for 150 points, I felt. Together, Burning Gaze and the Solar Engine were key to giving me something that could match the Ogre range, which I would have been sorely lacking had I kept Tetto.
Saurus Warriors. These guys. They took a charge from some Ogres like a boss, and held them up long enough for the Temple Guard to get in the flank. Chances are they could have gone a second or third round, if need be. Then they turned around and chased the Maneaters off the table. Once again, I’m impressed at just how well they can do when they aren’t fighting Warriors.
Skink Priest. He only tried to cast Wildform once, and failed it, but his Dispel Scroll was invaluable. Iceshard Blizzard certainly would have been much more useful in this game, although I like being able to make the Cav S5 without needing to buy them Spears. This will need a little more playtesting, I feel, and ultimately I don’t think I’ll ever be truly happy going either way.
Dropping Tetto’Ekko. Did not miss this guy one bit. Although his Vanguard is great, I don’t feel like I was making the most of his points as a caster, which ultimately he is primarily. I’m very much of the opinion that he works better in a no Slann list, which means although I might put him back into a double Oldblood list, for now he’s out for good.

What didn’t go so well:
Deployment. Ugh, I messed this up bad. My opponent had a ton of chaff which meant he could counter my list as he liked. With that in mind, I should have castled up on my right, sending the Cav either straight up the centre or around the building where they might have been somewhat shielded from the gunfire.
Cold One Cavalry. Once again, they got shot up. But this time they actually made it into combat, albeit all two of them. Still, at only 180 points they didn’t give up too much, and they would have at least served their purpose to deliver the Scar-Vets to combat, except...
Scar-Vets. After the initial barrage on the Cav, I bailed the Vets out to join the Temple Guard. This was a huge mistake, as it left them open to snipes from the Ironblaster, and delayed them from getting into combat because the Gnoblars could have chaffed them up. Again, this was something I was lucky not to be punished for when they both panicked. As it turned out, the second round of shooting wasn’t nearly as effective, and had I kept them with the Cav they would have been able to get into at least one unit of Leadbelchers, and probably could have taken off both units themselves single handily. The lesson that I am learning is to be much, much more aggressive with the Vets and accept that the Cav are just ablative wound counters to be treated as such. Or I could have managed my initial magic phase much better by dropping a Timewarp and Pha’s on the unit, and leaving them a clear path to make a turn 2 charge.

What I’d like to change:
More Temple Guard. 24 really is my minimum number, as its the only decent combat unit in the list, but I can’t find a way to boost it any more without cutting something. Ideally, I’d like to get 26-30. In the 2.4 list, this could be accommodated by dropping the Terradons (to be replaced by another unit of Skirmisher Skinks for more chaff?), but I really appreciate their general utility (my models are also awesome and tend to get a lot of comments). Otherwise, it could be cutting the Cav down to 5, though then they are even more exposed to cannons, or dropping the Razor Standard and relying on WIldform to get those all important armour modifiers, though I’m reluctant to rely any more on magic than I already am, based on past experience.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed how this list played out. Possibly this is as a result of lowing my expectations after the last couple of games, and possibly because Ogres aren’t’ nearly as frustrating to fight as Wood Elves, but I really felt like the list is now coming together. Even badly mishandled, the potential was starting to shine through.

 

[NexS1]

Hey mate, great game!
A few questions/queries/points of interest for you:
1. Were you playing closed lists? You mentioned that you deployed very wide to prevent scouting in your zone (alternatively, you could have left a big open space to coax him into scouting there and charge the crap outta him but he didn't scout)
2. How did the bastiladon not kill the first sabretusk straight out, either with stand/fire or thunderstomp?
3. When the leadbelchers failed the charge at the diminished TG, what did they need to get in? It would have been risky to do so, but you might have fled from the charge through the gnoblars for a next turn rally, puttung you out of charge range/gnoblars in the way. It all depends on the distances on the table (sometimes the batrep pic doesn't accurately represent distances)
4. Man, was your last turn lucky! It was risky charging the ogres, really risky. Would you have been able to get the whole unit into combat with the gnoblars when the scar vet charged? That may have been a better option?

Exciting all the way through, nice report!

 

[GCPD]

Hi NexS1!

1) Yup, closed lists. I had seen the list in action a few months ago, but couldn't quite remember what upgrades the Maneaters had. In hindsight though, yes I should have gone for a refused flank and let him in one corner if he wanted to (and could).
2) Terrible dice Skinks didn't wound, Bastiladon missed with all but one attack (including the S10).
3) I'm actually a little hazy on whether they did charge. They might have actually just tried shooting at them instead, but couldn't achieve much due to Pha's. In any case, they would have only been S4 and the Scar-Vet would have been in the way to absorb most of the damage, so I was reasonably confident.
4) Tell me about it! The Gnoblar charge was a bit of a distance, and I I wasn't confident of being able to make it. My concern was to get rid of the Ironblaster, so I was happy to send the Scar-Vet off on his own into combat so he couldn't be shot at, and should be able to overrun into it (in the event, I managed to magic it off).

The Temple Guard charge was a much closer distance, a 6 I think, but agreed risky as hell! Still, it was a club game and I was going down, so I thought, why the hell not? Plus if I hadn't they would have faced another full round of shooting, or got multi charges by all three units. As it turned out, Speed of Light Temple Guard are pretty damn good no matter how many of them there are, something to remember if I need to take equal risks in the future!

Thanks for reading!

 

[NexS1]

All fair points!

Ahhh, the old "no guts, no glory" action. I had one of those with a long charge into some beastigors. Pulled it off, destroyed the unit and wonbthe game!!

What's the next battle, and any changes to the list/tactics for it?

 

[GCPD]

Coming up soon! And, funnily enough, is against Beastmen at 2,400 points. I'm using the same list except adding the PotSBlood back in along with the Terradons and another unit of Skinks.

And yeah, when the chips are down and you're staring at a 20-0, sometimes you've just got to go balls to the wall to make something happen.

 

[GCPD]

Lizardmen vs Beastmen

Another day, another battle report! This was at a club I hadn't been to against Beastmen, who I hadn't played before. Spoiler alert: its pretty embaressing.

Lizardmen
Slann with Harmonic Convergence, Channelling Staff, BSB, Light.
Oldblood with Enchanted Shield, Sword of Striking, Potion of Strength, Luckstone, Light Armour.

Scar-Veteran with Armour of Destiny, great weapon, Cold One.
Scar-Veteran with Dawn Stone, Dragonhelm, great weapon, Cold One.
Skink Priest, Lv1 Beasts, Dispel Scroll

20 Saurus Warriors, Full Command.
20 Skink Corhort, Full Command.
12 Skink Cohort, Standard & Musician.
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers

24 Temple Guard, Full Command, Razor Standard
6 Cold One Riders.
Bastiladon with Solar Engine.
3 Terradons

Beastmen
Doombull with Brass Cleaver, Dawn Stone, Gnarled Hide, Gouge-Tusks, Ram Horn Helm, Heavy Armour, Shield. General

Bray Shaman, Level 2, Staff of Darkoth, Lore of the Wild
Bray Shaman, Level 2, Hagree Fetish, Lore of the Wild
Wargor, BSB, Armour of Destiny, Great Weapon

5 Ungor Raiders
3 Tuskgor Chariots
40 Gor, Full Command, Additional Hand Weapons

40 Bestigor, Full Command
3 Minotaurs, Additional Hand Weapon
3 Minotaurs, Additional Hand Weapon
Razorgor

Definitely a fun looking list and unlike most other Beastmen lists I've heard about. The Doombull wasn't flying, but that only made it even more scary!

Spells
Slann: Speed of Light, Timewarp, Pha's Protection, Burning Gaze
Skink Priest: Wildform

Staff Shaman: Bestial Surge, Mantle of Ghorok
Fetish Shaman: Viletide, Devolve



Deployment saw the Lizardmen concentrated in the centre, using the building to anchor one flank, with the Beastmen hordes opposed with powerful flanking elements.



The line moved up cautiously, aware of the threats on the flanks. Most magic was out of range and was uneventful, but the Slann did manage to cast Timewarp on the Temple Guard – ready for a second turn charge if one should present itself.


On the right, the first charge of the game was declared with the Razogor running the Skinks down and into the Saurus Cavalry. The other unit was targetted by Viletide, with one dispelled and the other killing 5.


As the range to the Minotaur was still great despite Timewarp, the Temple Guard pushed forwards cautiously again, whilst on the flank the Skinks withdrew from the Chariots – peppering them with javelins and causing some wounds here and there. The Oldblood led his Saurus ready to face the Doombull.

In the magic phase, the Bastiladon was able to kill one Minotaur from the centre of the unit. The Skink Priest was then able to just manage to cast Wildform on the Saurus Cavalry. However, when the Slann attempted to cast a bubble Speed of Light he was rewarded with a miscast that killed 5 of the Temple Guard around him.

Buffed by Wildform, the Cold One Cavalry broke the Minotaurs without any loss of their own, overruning again towards the Bestigor. However, this time their luck ran out and they just missed the unit.


The Bestigor charged the Saurus Cavalry before them, with the Chariot joining their flank. Elsewhere, one unit of Skinks was wiped out by another Chariot and the Doombull charged the Saurus, killing the unit champion in a challenge (although I had cast Speed of Light last turn, I forgot to drink my Potion of Strength which meant the Oldblood wouldn't be able to kill the Doombull. Doh!).

In the magic phase, a Mantle was cast on the Wargor, whilst one Terradon was knocked out of the sky by Viletide, with a second casting blocked. Two Saurus took no losses from the Chariot, but only two models were in base contact with the Wargor and were unable to get past his Ward Save despite Wildform. The Wargor promptly massacred the unit, but there was some luck when the Chariot failed its dangerous terrain test coming out of the forest and was destroyed.


The Terradons flew over the Raiders, dropping their rocks to wipe the whole unit out, and landed to keep the Bestigor away from the Temple Guard, whilst the Skinks reformed to face the Chariots menacing their flank.

In the magic phase, the Bastiladon attempted to repeat his earlier performance but failed to cast. The Slann then attempted to cast Speed of Light on the Saurus, but once again miscast – this time the result was Dimensional Cascade, and although he avoided going down a hole 8 Temple Guard were killed in the resulting explosion, and the Bastiladon was wounded.

Having drunk his Potion of Strength, the Oldblood stepped out to challenge the fearsome Doombull. With his five attacks hitting on 2s, he hit 3 times with a further two hits generated from Predatory Fighter. Wounding on 2s, he wounded five times – enough to kill the Doombull outright.

But triumph turned to disaster when the Doombull made one 6+ armour save! For his efforts, the Oldblood was smashed into the dirt. Now the Saurus were in trouble, though they needed to inflict just one wound past the 2+ re-rollable...


Both Chariots charged the Skinks on the left, though only one made it into combat. (I'm fuzzy on the detail of what exactly happened here, but I'm certain that the unit only fought one Chariot at a time. The first may have failed its dangerous terrain test, which was enough to kill it after previous wounds chipped away, and is what's represented here...).

In the magic phase, half the Skink Cohort unit was killed by a Viletide.

The Bestigor wiped out the Terradons, and the Doombull cut through the ranks of Saurus.


The Skink Priest ran out to keep the Bestigor out of the depleted Temple Guard unit, however further disaster struck when the Slann attempted to cast Speed of Light, resulting in another Dimensional Cascade. This time, he was not so lucky and took 6 Temple Guard with him and wounding the Bastiladon for a second time.

The Doombull continued cutting through the Saurus, with only the Standard Bearer alive – who rolled a very convincing Insane Courage to hold his ground.


The Bestigor killed the Skink Priest, but not before he was able to use his Scroll to stop a Viletide, whilst the remaining chariot killed several Skinks. The Minotaurs killed three Temple Guard before the Scar-Vets wiped them out, and the Doombull finished off the Standard Bearer who was unable to make the key wound.


The Dawn Stone Scar-Vet made a lone charge into the Gor and killed the champion, whilst the Skinks left the building to redirect the Bestigor. Aware of the Doombull baring down upon them, the Temple Guard survivors reformed to face it head on.


The Doombull charged the Temple Guard, killing the Scar-Vet in a challenge and crushing the survivors under his hooves. An attempt of Mantle was cast on one of the Shamans who challenged the Scar-Vet, but it was either unsuccessful, dispelled, or the Scar-Vet passed all his saves (sorry, I forget!). In return, the Shaman was cut down.

There was more success when the Skinks broke the Chariot from combat and ran it down.


The Bastiladon rounded on the Doombull and opened with his Solar Beam – the restult was an IF, followed by 2D6 S6 hits (at last!). This was enough to take the final wound off the ramapging minotaur.

Sadly, the Scar-Vet lost combat by two and broke, only to be run down by the pursuiing Gor.

Although there was one more turn to play, the Beastmen weren't able to make anything happen so the game was ended. I believe we rolled magic and attempted a Viletide, but it failed to cast.

Result: Lizardmen Defeat!

Ouch, that really hurt. Sometimes you get really lucky, as my last game proved – and sometimes you miscast three times in a row, gut your main combat unit, and lose your Level 4 General BSB. The first two were my own fault: 6 dice bubble Speed of Light followed by 5 dice Speed of Light, both to get past a lot of dispel dice, are asking to IF. But then to produce it on 4 dice little Speed of Light and get Cascade again was very frustrating!

Nonetheless, I don't think I actually played too badly. The major mistake, which ultimately cost me the game, was in deployment – but it concerns only the placement of the characters. The Oldblood was fine: he and his unit of Saurus were going to go after the Doombull, then try and get into the Gor block. Didn't happen, and I was very unlucky not to kill it with the Saurus rolling a metric ton of 5s and 6s to wound, but it was a good plan and I was still in the game even after that went downhill.

The problem was with the Scar-Vets and the Slann. As I wasn't facing cannons, for some silly reason I decided to put them all in the Temple Guard. No! This just slowed the Scar-Vets down from getting into combat. Had they gone in the Cav like they are supposed to do, then chances are that I could have wrecked that Bestigor block and swung around back to the centre. Even just killing the BSB could have been significant. Instead I threw the Cav away – again. I thought I had learned from the last game to trust the Cav and Vets to see me through, but evidently I need to keep learning it again.

Secondly, the Slann. There was no reason for him to be in the Temple Guard block from the start, especially as I was cagey about engaging the hordes until dealing with the flanks. He should have been sat with the big Skink unit directly behind, where any miscasts would have killed Skinks instead of precious Temple Guard, and only jumped in before combat started if needed. That third miscast really did it in for me: even losing the Slann, the Temple Guard may have been enough to take out the Gor, or at least preserve their points as in the last game.

The usual post-battle good/bad analysis:

What went well?
Saurus Cavalry. Once again, these guys did me proud: taking out the unit of Minotaurs and very nearly making something really promising happen with the Bestigor. I can really see their potential with some Scar-Vets... if only I could remember to deploy and keep them together!
Bastiladon. Chipped away here and there and got the Doombull in the end. Great stuff.
The Slann. You might be surprised to see this here, but as per previous analysis Harmonic and the Channelling Staff really came through, and Speed of Light was great. I really do love this spell.
PotSBlood. Finally given his chance to shine, and nearly delivered! On the drive home, I wondered if nearly delivering is good enough and whether I should get rid of him for something more worhtwhile, but when I went back to the list and saw he was only a mere 194 points I realised he's still incredible value.
Skink Priest. Finally managed to cast Wildform this game, and I think it may have even been twice! Watching the Cav go through the Minotaurs was worth it.
Terradons. Did their job, but were exposed to magic missiles – if I'd kept them back a bit further or behind the building, all three would have survived.

What didn't go so well?
Obviously, deployment and the Slann. Its good to get all my bad luck out in one go but, in future, I need to stick to 5 dice maximum and accept that sometimes I'm going to get dispelled; but that's why I run Light for utility. If Speed was blocked, Timewarp would have been sufficient.
Skink Skirmishers. Whilst they also sort of did their job, I feel like I could have exploited them much better.

 

[NexS1]

Ouch!!
Here are my observations...
1. Deployment... Oh man, when I saw your deployment I could have cried... What was your reasoning for placing all your units in the middle? With the two hordes there, manoeuvrability will be hard for them, so castling on the right flank would have been the better option, giving you the ability to take out the minotaurs and one block unit at a time.

2. The old blood not having enough to kill the doom bull made me cringe, that could have turned the whole battle!

3. How many dice did you throw at those miscasts? Those results were very lucky! My last slann miscast saw my slann sucked into the warp and 13 temple guard dead...