Re: GCPD's Battle Reports
Deployment
Terrain from left to right: Sphynx (above the Ripperdactyls), Acropolis of Heroes, the tower is a Tower of Blood, and on the far right a Sinister Statue. The two forests are Mysterious, although I deployed one Skink in my one which turned out to be mundane. And, yes, I was the one who put the forest in the middle
We rolled randomly for scenario, but got Battle for the Pass and then Meeting Engagement. Our last four or five games have been these two scenarios and we were both pretty sick of them, so in the end went for a straight up Battleline. My opponent won the roll off for table edge, but lost it for deployment so went down first. I still finished deploying before him, but lost the roll for the first turn.
My characters went down first, which is why the Potion Chief on the right (facing off against all that armour), and the Egg Chief is on the left (where his Egg should do better against the relatively weaker opponents). That being said, if I'd known where the Daemon Prince was going I may have swapped them round. In hindsight, I also think the Chiefs are better going in the Skirmisher units, whilst the Priests should sit in the Cohorts behind the front line. All of my characters are just within 12" of the General for protection against Spirit Leech, but in the end this was unnecessary as he didn't take it.
The general plan is to fight a holding action on the left with the Saurus phalanx in order to prevent both flanks of his army from linking up, whilst using all my heavy hitting stuff on the right to go after his main damage dealers.
My Ripperdactyls dropped a Bloat Toad on the Khorne Forsaken, which is probably the only unit they stand a decent chance of taking out, and Vanguarded to face off the board edge (no first turn Frenzy).
Spell Generation:
Hex Priest: Wildform (I rolled Pan's Pelt, but swapped it for a second Wildform because...)
Scroll Priest: Transformation of Kadon (probably not a great idea to keep this as it needs a lot of magic dice and Wildform may have been better, with Pelt being easier to cast. But I do want to have a Mountain Chimera).
Daemon Prince: Soulblight, Purple Sun, Fate.
Warriors of Chaos - Turn 1
The Chaos horde came rampaging forwards at full steam. A Warhound runs into the centre forest, which turns out to be the Poisoned one (my favourite, as its Dangerous Terrain for
everything. The Chimera (C3) dropped behind the tower out of line of sight of my Slann. In the magic phase, the Warriors start off by casting the Ruby Ring on my right Skink block, which I dispel. They follow up by casting Fate on the left Skink Priest. I let this through, but fire the Hex Scroll.
My Skink Priest dies pretty much as expected, but... the Daemon Prince fails his magic level check, and turns into a frog!
I'm sad about losing the second Wildform (which goes back to my spell selection choices again) and arcane vassal, but its frankly 115 points well spent and a trade off I'm more than happy to make any time.
Naturally, my opponent's face drops and he's in shock for the next few turns, and can be heard repeatedly muttering "how have we missed that for four years?!" to himself.
Lizardmen - Turn 1
Operation Skink Mayhem is in full swing. On the left, the Skink chaff surrounds the artist formally known as Prince and prepares to deliver the coup de grace (to cries of, "wait,
all of his stats are 2 except wounds? And he loses
all items and abilities?"). Sadly, the Skink Chief misses his javelin shot, and the lesser Skinks can only put three wounds on it. So close, yet so far.
Meanwhile, the Saurus phalanx moves into position with the forest weighting their flank, and the Temple Guard push out in the other direction. My Oldblood attempts a charge on the Skullcrushers, but fails the 20" distance needed. I bail the Scroll Priest out of his unit to get line of sight on the Chimera, whilst the Skink Chief leaves his unit and joins the Skirmishers to redirect the Nurgle Warriors, Chariot, Exalted, and whatever else fancies a go. My Ripperdactyls run up behind the Forsaken with a cunning plan in mind.
In the magic phase, I generate a bunch of dice. First off - two dice on the Solar Engine, which rolls up the 6 result. Despite this fortune, I only roll 4 hits, dropping 3 Chaos Warriors dead and their WS takes a hit. I follow with a three dice Searing Doom on the Chimera, which takes off 3 wounds, and a three dice mid-level Fireball, which my opponent attempts to dispel but fails, to toppled the monster. With my last two dice I try for Spirit Leech on the Exalted, but roll up a 1 and a 2.
Ancient Steggy fires his giant blowpipes at the Warhounds, but he's on 7s and rolls poorly so only kills one.
Warriors of Chaos - Turn 2
My opponent tries to save his Prince by throwing the Ogres into the Skirmisher Skinks. These guys had been positioned
just right to redirect them out of the field of play, and even managed to take one down on a Stand and Shoot (although they paid for it with their lives)! Elsewhere, my Skink drinks his potion of Strength, although he misses his S7 Javelin shot, but his fellows drop two Chaos Warriors. The Tzeentch Exalted prioritises Ancient Steggy and I think he has the Ichor upgrade, as he saves the single poisoned stand and shoot from the crew on a 4. Evidently, the Forsaken don't give a flying skink about the Rippers and keep their backs to them.
In the magic phase, we all watch with bated brief as my opponent rolls his Frog check and... its a 3! Evidently Tzeentch is highly amused with this sudden humbling of Nurgle's favoured disciple. With no eligible magic we go straight to combat. The Exalted takes a wound off Steggy, but the beast holds on its Stubborn check. My Skink Chief challenges the Nurgle Champion, but even with re-rolls to hit from the tower he only gets the one wound through. The Skinks themselves are wiped out, and the Chief flees and is run down. This causes my Skink Priest to flee, who ends up within 6" of the Sinister Statue.
Lizardmen Turn 2
I spy a potentially incredible combo-charge on the left and go for it: throwing my Rippers into the rear of the Forsaken and charging my phalanx into the dogs. My opponent debates fleeing with them, but I've got an easy redirect into his Forsaken so decides to risk a failed overrun/pursuit. I also charge the Skink Chief out of his unit to try and run down the Frog Prince, but it escapes. My Temple Guard clear out the dogs and reform to present a line against his now isolated flank, and my Oldblood finally gets his charge into the Skullcrushers. This was actually a mistake, as I assumed that there was a Champion in there to challenge, but as we'll see it turned out ok.
The Sinister Statue zapped my Skink Priest.
In the magic phase I rolled high again, and went for a two dice Solar Engine on Chariot 2. Again I rolled a good result - 2d6 S5 hits - and again I rolled poorly for damage - only 4 or 5. Still, it took two wounds off. I then went for a Searing Doom on the Warriors, which killed one or two models thanks to poor hit rolls again (this is not shown, but they have about 10 guys left), and then dropped a Miasma on the Khorne Forsaken to drop their WS and I by 2 in order to give the Rippers a chance just in case the Saurus don't make it in. Finally, I tried Wildform on the Oldblood but my opponent, wisely, dispelled it with all his dice.
My Skink Cohort on the left ran up to take the last wound off the Daemon Prince. 600 point swing to me.
I started combat with the Saurus Phalanx, hoping to get that overrun and fight again. Sadly, they needed 6" to hit the Forsaken and rolled a 4: precariously exposing their flank to the Khorne Warriors baring down on them. The Ripperdactyls, fighting alone, then rolled badly for their attacks - only 4 each - then rolled amazingly well for their hits - getting something like 11 after re-rolls - and then rolled
terribly for wounds. I got 1 Killing Blow and one normal hit on a 5: everything else was 3 or less. Between them and the Skink riders I only managed to kill 3 Forsaken, and in return lost two models. Then I missed the only Stomp attack. The Forsaken, who had been powered up with Killing Blow, still lost the combat through CR, but passed their break test and reformed to face me.
The Oldblood didn't take a wound from the Skullcrushers, hits a bunch of times with Predatory Fighter, wounds a bunch of times, but only one got through. Kindly enough, my opponent failed his break test and off they went; promptly run down by the One Lizard Wrecking Machine. Steggy lost another wound to the Tzeentch Exalted, who was having a terrible time making those 4s to wound. But the beast and his crew either couldn't hit or wound for love nor money, so the combat dragged on - this time with Steggy in range of the General's leadership.
Warriors of Chaos - Turn 3
In came the Frenzied madmen to the flank of the Saurus. I'll admit - for a minute I debated fleeing with them. On average rolls I'd
probably escape. But after a quick bout of arithmetic, I calculated that I shouldn't lose more than 6 models, so I'd still be Steadfast. And although unclear in the map, I'm well within the General's bubble. Chariot 1 goes in to the Skinks in its way, but rolls badly for Impact Hits and in the ensuing combat I only lose a couple of models thanks to Parry saves, so they pass their Steadfast check.
The Nurgle Ogres and Nurgle Warriors both reform to face inwards, and there's some crazy LoS-denying shenanigans with Chariot 2 (who is trying to stay out of the Statue's 6" threat range and simultaneously not get zapped by the Slann or Basty).
In the combat phase, my last Ripper dies - but not before taking 3 Forsaken with him, thanks to getting 5 attacks. Really, the sheer damage output per model on these guys is crazy, even if you're not rolling 6 attacks each - they are perfect for MSU hunting. The Forsaken reform to face inwards again.
The Khorne Champion issues a challenge, which I accept with the Spawn Leader. The idea is to minimize the amount of damage I'm about to take, but given that the Champion will almost certainly win, and this gives him a chance to generate a Daemon Prince, it was probably a bad idea. However, so begins the almighty pillow fight: the Champion only gets 1 wound despite 5 attacks, although I fail the 5+. The Khorne Warriors do slightly worse than both of us expected, although I still can't make 5+ saves and lose 5 models, which puts me at the 6 I predicted. I think my Saurus kill one or two; either way, they pass their LD10 on the re-roll and reform to face them (at this point, with some of the Forsaken dead, I could get 7 of the 8 into base contact without clipping the other unit).
The Exalted finally manages to put 3 wounds on the Stegadon... and I finally manage to roll a 6+ save. The Skinks then put one wound back on the Exalted! But sadly, that damned Disc rolls his 6 to wound, and I go back to being unable to make saves. The Eye of the Gods roll goes out... and he gets a 10. Phew (Actually, in hindsight, I would quite like this model to turn into a Daemon Prince as I get all the VPs for it, and its in perfect position to be blasted by Basty and the Slann. Its the one in combat with the Saurus that I don't want turning, as I can't really do anything about it just now).
Lizardmen Turn 3
Eagerly seizing the opportunity for more Skink mayhem, my Egg Chief runs into the Forsaken. He's got the Egg, he'll attack first with the Biting Blade, and there's only 4 of them - what could go wrong? As it turns out, pretty much everything - the cracked Egg rolls result 3 which, while pretty ok at D6 S4 hits, means that - you guessed it - I rolled badly for number of hits
again and don't do any wounds. The Chief himself cuts down a Forsaken, who then deal 2 wounds back to the Chief. With the Armour Piercing mutation he dies instantly - although I mistakenly rolled my saves before realising this, and one of them came up 6. if I'd found those two points for light armour, he would have been fine...
The Oldblood comes back into play to sit in front of the Nurgle Warriors. He's close enough to the tower to get re-rolls to hit - but so are they, and they'll pack Frenzy to boot,
and they don't have a Champion to challenge, which I thought they did. He may have been better going to chase after the Exalted. I also debated putting the Temple Guard into Chariot 1, but the Skink cohort was overhanging which would have made the angle awkward. Without a Skink hero nearby, I didn't want them charging off and out of the game.
The Skink Cohort who went in to redirect the Nurgle Ogres took two wounds off a model (not shown), and in the magic phase I rolled about 6 dice vs 5. This was a bit of a dilemma - do I buff the Saurus combat, or try to kill the Exalted? My options for doing the latter are limited - I know by this point that he has the Dragonhelm, so I'm relying on Spirit Leech or the Bastiladon winning in combat. Putting off the decision, I tried to one shot the Solar Engine at the Nurgle Warriors, but failed to cast. I believe I then tried Spirit Leech on the Exalted with three dice, but this was dispelled, and used the last two dice to drop the WS of the Khorne Warriors to 3 (I could have gone for Iceshard, but it wouldn't have made me any better at doing damage, or Wildform, but on two dice I just knew I'd fail to cast). I probably should have used more dice on Leech rather than doing everything, but it was a safe bet that he's holding back everything to stop it so I'd need to 5 or 6 dice it, which of course risks a miscast. It didn't occur to me to buff the Bastiladon until much later, although I'm not entirely convinced it would be a good idea.
A few more Skinks died, though once again they passed their break test. In the main combat, the pillow fight began in earnest - the Aspiring Champion, now S5 with his Eye roll, failed to wound, and the Khorne Warriors failed just as miserably and only managed to kill 3 Saurus. With all my attacks, including Predatory Fighter, I couldn't do much better and despite hitting a ton of times, rolled something crazy like 8 1s to wound, thus killing maybe 4. The Warriors lost, but managed their leadership 5 break test.
Warriors of Chaos - Turn 4
The Nurgle Ogres charged the Skinks, who couldn't manage any wounds on their SnS or in combat, and were wiped out for their troubles. The Exalted also charged the Bastiladon and put three wounds on it, although the beast managed to escape. The Nurgle Warriors went in to the Oldblood and took two wounds off him, even with his re-rolled armour saves. Yikes. Oldy then went completely mental and tore 5 or 6 of them apart - Predatory Fighter is great with re-rolls!
Three Skinks died to the Chariot, but one lucky survivor made his Parry save and stood his ground.
The Forsaken came in to the Saurus flank, but they and the surviving Warriors couldn't do better than three wounds (I think his mutation was ASF). The Saurus directed all of their attacks against the Warriors, leaving just the Champion (who, happily, again fluffed all his attacks) and the Standard Bearer standing. Both units passed their break tests, which were still high thanks to the Forsaken flank CR.
Lizardmen - Turn 4
The Bastiladon rallies. Over on the left, the Khorne Champion finally manages to wound something and kills a couple of Saurus. In return, he and his last remaining companion are cut down. I direct some attacks against the Forsaken, who rolled up ASL, and kill one, and they don't do much in return, but hold their ground. The Saurus reform to face them, as I have one round to finish them off before I need to deal with the Nurgle Ogres.
I send my Temple Guard into the Nurgle Warriors, who reformed from defeat to get all models attacking the Oldblood. He gets one wound back after my opponent lets me cast Earthblood on the Temple Guard through the Lore Attribute, dispelling whatever I attempt to cast next. The Oldblood then continues his rampage as he doesn't take any wounds, kills another 4 Warriors, and runs them down. The Temple Guard overrun into Chariot 2.
And at this point, with it getting quite late, my opponent concedes. Looking at the map, I think victory would have been tough for him - whatever he does with the Nurgle Ogres, my Saurus will finish off the Forsaken in his turn and can either march out of charge arc or charge the Ogres first and try to grind them out. With some Slann buffs this isn't at all unlikely. Whilst the Exalted probably kills the Bastiladon, I've got a turn to bring my Oldblood back in to limit his options, and although Chariot 1 is going to go into the rear of the Temple Guard - odds are the Slann will survive it. Chariot 2 is going to die in any case, so C1 might well break and get run down.
Regardless, I'm sitting pretty at some 1500 VPs already at this exact moment of time, and that's likely to jump to 1700 at the end of the next turn. Meanwhile, the Warriors have only taken 1063 off me - and that's including the Bastiladon. Its going to be extremely difficult, if not outright impossible, to grab another 700 points needed for a draw when the Saurus are only 384.
Result: Lizardmen Victory!
Sure enough, he rolls a miscast - Dimensional Cascade. Kills 2 of the Warriors. Rolls for sucked into the warp: a 2. Bye-bye Daemon Prince. Just to add insult to injury, the spell only does a single wound to each model and as the Terradons all have 2 each, they survive.
