8th Ed. Lizardmen Tale of Gamers

[Spiney Norman]

I've just begun a Tale of gamers style event at my local GCN club. For those that are not familiar with the concept, armies start small, only 500pts in the first month, and gradually grow in size, adding an additional 250pts each month.

My starting army is as follows

Ku'Qulkan, Saurus Scar Veteran w/ enchanted shield

15 Saurus Warriors w/ Hand weapon & shield, Full command
10 Skink Skirmishers w/ Blow Pipes

Bastiladon with Solar Engine

My first game was against the wimpy warmbloods of Talabheim
Warrior Priest w/ hand weapon
30 Halberdiers w/ full command
10 Handgunners (detachment)
5 Knights w/ lance & shield

Note: references to 'left' and 'right' are all taken from my (lizardmen player's) viewpoint.

Deployment
The Knights deployed on the Left side (from my view), with the Halberdiers (and WP) in the centre and the handgunners on the right.

The saurus deployed opposite the knights with the Bastiladon in close support and the skinks on the right flank opposite the handgunners.

Empire T1
First turn went to the men of the Empire, the handgunners found themselves out of range and the entire army marched forwards.

In the magic phase the warrior priest mumbled a few ineffectual prayers but the only one that was likely to matter (5+ ward) was easily dispelled.

Lizardmen T1
In the Lizardmen turn the saurus moved forwards to recieve the knights charge next turn, the skinks darted forwards bringing their blowpipes into range of the Halberdiers and the Bastiladon followed the saurus.

In the magic phase the winds of magic blew strongly, yielding 9 casting dice and 6 dispels. The Bastiladon unleashed an irresistible beam of chotec, incinerating 2 halberdiers. The skinks were unable tio get into short range and so only fired once, and so only felled one halberdier with their blow pipes and the turn was over.

Empire T2
In the second imperial turn the Knights charged the saurus, who held firm, the Halberdiers judged the Bastiladon to be too far away and instead settled on advancing to within range for next turn.

Another strong magic phase saw the priest again attempt to pray a 5+ ward save on to his unit, but the dice gods were clearly favouring the Lizardmen, who rolled a colossal 25 on 6 dice for their dispel roll.

The handgunners fired at the Bastiladon, managing to cause two wounds.

On to the combat phase and the Preceptor issued a challenge, eager to prove his worth the Saurus Champion stepped up to the plate and was promptly spitted on the noble Knights lance. Striking before the humans thanks to the presence of the Solar engine, the Scar Veteran managed to fell two knights, The knights cut down two saurus while the Lizards were frustrated by the thick plate armour of the knights. The knights held, though their position was looking increasingly tenuous.

Lizardmen T2
The Bastiladon moved closer to the saurus, the skinks remained still to improve their aim.
The magic phase yielded 6 casting dice and 4 dispels, allowing the Bastiladon to unleash another devastating beam of chotec, this time inflicting 2D6 Str5 on the hapless halberdiers, killing 5 of them.

In the shoot phase the skinks killed another 2 halberdiers with their blowpipes

In the contuing melee the preceptor's success had clearly gone to his head and he challenged the scar veteran. The ancient saurus obligued and cut the troublesome human into bite-sized chunks while the saurus brought down one of his two remaining compatriots, inflicting a staggering 10 wounds on the two knights.

The remaining knight, overcome by the horrors he had witnessed, fled, hotly pursued (but not caught) by the Saurus.

Empire T3
The halberdiers found an angry horde of saurus bearing down on them, but due to a quirk of luck the last member of the Knight unit found himself blocking their charge path and they instead elected to charge the skinks on the right hand side in an attempt to get out of the way. The skinks promptly fled and the halberdiers ground to a halt, going only 3", and most definitely not out of the saurus' way.

In the magic phase the priest prayed furiously, failing to cast his 5+ ward save for the 3rd time, but managing to give his unit reroll wounds.

Lizardmen T3
The saurus charged the lone knight, the Bastiladon moved in on the halberdiers and the Skinks rallied on 4, much to my relief (they were outside of the general's Ld bubble).

The beam of chotec once more lanced across the battlefield, again cast with irresistible force, but it seems to be running a little low of energy at this point, only causing 3 S3 hits, killing a single halberdier. The skinks faired slightly better in the shoot phase, killing two with their blowpipes.

In combat the scar veteran cut down the last surviving knight and the unit overran, straight into the flank of the Halberdiers.

Empire T4
Things began to unravel fast, with a winds of magic roll of 6,1 the priest attempted two prayers, which were both dispelled by the Lizardmen so the halberdiers went into combat unaided. In the shoot phase the handgunners turned their attention to the skinks, but failed even to hit them at long range.

The Scar Veteran bellowed his challenge to the warrior priest, who chose instead to send his subordinate, the halberdier champion, to die in his place. And die he did, taking three wounds from the Scar Veteran while his meagre attacks failed to even hit the hulking lizard.



The warrior priest and his halberdiers failed to bring down a single saurus, who reaped a fearsome toll in reply, shredding no less than 9 of the pitiful warmbloods. To the warrior priest's dismay he discovered that his halberdiers were no longer steadfast and needed double 1 on their break test to stay in the fight. Needless to say they fled and were run down by the angry saurus who made a mighty 11" move, ending up scant inches from the front of the handguners.

Lizardmen T4
The saurus continued their rampage of destruction by charging headlong into the handgunners who were unable even to bring their rifles to bear before the Lizards were upon them.

Unable to keep up with the the saurus the Bastiladon was content to munch some grass and watch the show as the Saurus and their fearless leader slaughtered the handgunners to a man.



Result: Massacre to the Lizardmen.

 

[n810]

Well done sir,
The bastilodon definately seems to pull his weight in low point games.
also I think you may have the skinks ralying on the turn before they fled,
surely this is a typo or somehting.

 

[Spiney Norman]

Well done sir,
The bastilodon definately seems to pull his weight in low point games.
also I think you may have the skinks ralying on the turn before they fled,
surely this is a typo or somehting.

Woops, yes, my in game notes were slightly garbled in places, sorted now.

I was really pleased with the Bastiladon, most of the other players went for a wizard as their opening hero, but I was slightly dubious about the virtues of a Ld 5 general, and the scar vet is so good in combat. The beam of Chotec gives me a solid, (fairly) dependable spell I can just lob a chunk of dice at and not care especially about whether it goes off or not, and it has a 50% chance of wreaking serious havoc on most units, 2D6 Str 5 is pretty horrendous on most things.

Having said that this was by no means the most competitive army in the campaign, the are some seriously nasty builds that I will be facing over the next few weeks, including another Empire army which is essentially a battle wizard, 3 Demigryphs, a helblaster and some handgunners.

 

[MHK Pathfinder]

Very enjoyable battle report to read! I look forward to future installments!

 

[Sanfo22]

Thumbs up !! Great read

 

[Spiney Norman]

Take 2, The Savage Orcs

Opponents List
Savage Orc Shaman (L2) rolled hand of gork (movement spell) and ere we go (combat rerolls)
15 savage Orc Bigguns w/ add. hand weaps
10 savage orcs w/bows
5 savage Orc Boarboyz

My List was the same as for the above game

deployment
The arrer boyz deployed in a watch tower in the SO dep zone with the main biggun unit next to it and the boar boyz on the right flank.

Across the table the saurus took the centre with the skinks sitting behind a forest to the left and the Bastiladon to the right of the saurus block.

Savage Orc T1
Both the boar boyz and the arrer boyz failed their animosity, the bigguns with the wizard stayed put. The shaman tried to cast hand of gork, but it was dispelled.

Lizardmen T1
The skinks ran up the field, gingerly entering the forest in front of them half expecting to be torn limb from limb only to discover it was actually normal forest. They somewhat unkindly took up a position just under 16" from the front of the bigguns.

The saurus took care to stay out of the arrer boyz max range and the bastiladon stayed put.

In the magic phase the Bastiladon unleashed a mediocre beam of chotec, killing 2 bigguns.

The skinks were out of range so roll on T2

Savage Orc T2
All three units passed their animosity, the Bigguns predictably failed their leadership test to restrain from charging the skinks, failed the charge and took a hail of blowdarts to the face, dropping two of them.

The boar boyz tried to make up for lost time and swept down the flank using a sigmarite chapel to screen then from the bastiladon's fury. The arrer boyz finally tumbled that the saurus were not willingly going to step inside their range and abandoned the watch tower.

In the magic phas the shaman again failed to cast hand of gork

In the shoot phase the arrer boyz shot at the saurus, but failed to cut through their scaly hide.

Lizardmen T2

The skinks danced on to the flank of the biggun unit, the saurus and bastiladon stayed put.

The bastiladon's beam of chotec cast but was dispelled and in the shoot phase the skink darts inflicted 2 more casualties on the Bigguns.

 

[Spiney Norman]

Savage Orc T3
All three units passed their animosity test and the steadily dwindling unit of bigguns again found themselves within charge range of a lizardmen unit. With a roar of triumph the bigguns passed their test and restrained their bloodlust. With the skinks in such close proximatey they next required a test to march, which they subsequently failed and thus only moved a miserable 4" towards the saurus.

The boar boyz had no such restriction and swept down the right flank, bearing down on the flank of the bastiladon, while the arrer boyz turned to face the skinks harrassing the bigguns.

In the magic phase Hand of Gork was again dispelled, then in the Shoot phase the arrer boys shot at the skinks butonly managed to kill one of them.

Lizardmen T3
No charges were declared, the saurus reformed to put both the bigguns and the boarboyz firmly in their forward arc while the Bastiladon turned to face the boar boyz, the skinks remained where they were, content to blow more darts at the slowly departing bigguns.

The magic phase yielded what I would consider to be the perfect number of dice, 6 power and 3 dispel. The beam of chotec went with irresistible force for the second time in the game and gloriously rolled a 6 for its effect. The boarboyz were engulfed in 7 St6 hits, doing 6 wounds on the unit. The boyz managed to pass two ward saves, leaving one member of their unit still on the table.

In the shoot phase the skinks dropped another 3 bigguns, bringing the unit down to 6 bigguns and their accompanying shaman.

Savage Orcs T4

The remnants of the Boarboyz and the Bigguns both declared charges on the Saurus leaving the Bastiladon out in the cold. The arrer boyz passed their test to charge the skinks at 15" away.

In the magic phase the shaman attempted to case ere we go, but it was dispelled, Hand of gork however went off, moving the Arrer boyz to within 10" of the skinks

In the shoot phase the arrer boyz managed to kill another skink, then it was straight to combat

The Scar Veteran bellowed his challenge to the Shaman, who refused and skulked at the back of his unit, the saurus leader then proceeded to take out his frustration by murdering two orcs.

The orcs and saurus both went at the same time (thanks to the bastiladon) and inflicted 5 wounds (saurus) and 8 wounds (respectively). The saurus took the hits heroically, saving two on their armour (6+) and parrying two more, while the Savages failed all their saves to leave only the shaman and the last boarboy standing. The shaman held, but the boarboy broke.

Lizardmen T4

The Lizardmen turn was short, the bastiladon turned to face the remaining arrer boyz, but his solar beam was dispelled. In the shoot phase the skinks proved they had been saving the best until last when from 16 shots they managed to produce 6 poisoned wounds, while the savage's warpaint seemed to have lost its protective charm, protecting not a single one of them from the virulent jungle poisons.

In the combat phase the scar vet ceremoniously beheaded the savage orc shaman and the turn passed to 4 remaining arrer boyz.

Savage Orcs T5
With little else left to do the arrer boyz decided to charge the skinks, who decided to do that characterful thing and leg it. Unfortunately they rolled a fairly depressing 5 while the savage orcs, spurred on by their anger managed a mighty charge roll of 12, plus their movement of 4. Measurement confirmed that, with only 10" between the skinks and the orcs when the charge was declared, the skirmishers part in the Old Ones' plan had come to an end.

Lizardmen T5
The Saurus moved as fast as they could to the remaining orcs with the Bastiladon keeping pace.

The magic phase saw the end of the game with a 2D6 S5 beam of chotec doing 8 wounds and removing the last of the arrer boyz.

With the last boar boy bearing down haard on the western table edge the Orcs conceded.

 

[MHK Pathfinder]

Nicely done! Sounds like the Old Ones blessed your dice rolls throughout the battle. ;D

 

[Spiney Norman]

I've been on Hols for the last couple of weeks so I haven't been able to get to the club, as a result I have a grand total of three games scheduled this week, one against Tomb Kings (a warsphinx at 500pts...) another against the new dark elf book (its take out DE friend a little longer to get his army to the table because of the new book and models) and a third against the other Lizardmen guy.

Lets just hope my skinks have practiced rolling 6s with their blow pipe vs that warsphinx.

As another note this is our last week in the current 500pt size, next week it all jumps up to 750 where I shall be adding a L2 beast priest and a squadron of ripperdactyls as well as some Saurus/skink 'padding' to make up the points

 

[Spiney Norman]

In the event I ended up playing only two games, as the Tomb King player cried off sick.

Instead I played my first game against the new Dark elf book and my second game, dubbed "the bro down" was against another lizardmen army.

My first opponent had
Level 2 Sorceress with the lore of Dark Magic (blade wind and a 2 D6 S5 MM)

10 Witch Elves
5 shades w/ full command
Repeater Bolt Thrower
Medusa

Deployment
I won the role off and forced my opponent to deploy first (since he had 4 units to my three I would be getting +1 regardless).

He deployed his witch elves in the centre with the Shades slightly ahead and to the left (from my view point) with his RBT to the Witch Elves right and slightly behind. The Sorceress deployed with the shades.

The Medusa deployed on the extreme left flank behind a watch tower

Dark Elf deployment


My saurus (with the scar vet) took the centre ground opposite the witch elves, with the skinks on the right (opposite the RBT) and the Bastiladon on the left.

My deployment


Lizardmen won the role off for 1st turn

Lizard T1

The skinks advanced into the woods on the right flank but were out of range to shoot at the RBT this turn, the saurus and bastiladon didn't move.

In the magic phase the Bastiladon mustered an irresistable beam of Chotec, doing D6 S4 and incinerating 4 of the shades. The unit passed its panic check comfortably.

The skinks were out of range and that was the end of the turn.

Dark Elves T1
The Medusa slunk down the left flank towards the Bastiladon, somewhat bizarrely nothing else moved.

In the magic phase the Sorceress cast an irresistable Blade wind on the skink skirmishers, but somehow only managed to kill 3 of them including the spell's secondary effect of doing 2D6 S1 AP hits. However that was enough to force a panic check, which the skinks duly failed despite being within range of the general. They fled back towards my board edge, while the Sorceress wounded herself and lost her remaining 3 PD.

In the shoot phase the RBT managed to miss the Bastiladon altogether with a single shot the last surviving shade failed to wound the saurus and the Medusa was out of range.

Lizards T2
The skinks finally remembered their place in the Old ones plan and rallied, the saurus and bastiladon stayed put.

In the magic phase the Bastiladon tried to finish off the remaining shade and sorceress, but the beam was dispelled.

Dark Elves T2

The Medusa closed in on the Bastiladon, everything else stayed where it was.

The Sorceress attempted to cast the magic missile spell on the saurus on 3 dice and failed, turning up two 1s and a 2, end of phase...

The RBT again shot at the Bastiladon, hit this time, but failed to convert a wound, the last remaining shade brought down a single saurus.

The Medusa unleashed a furious stare against the Bastiladon, but only hit once. Some debate followed on whether to use the Bastiladon's initiative of 2 or the skinks Int of 5 (both boosted by the engine) in the end we rolled off and the solution we went for was "highest available" which meant the skinks. The attack failed to wound.

Lizardmen T3

The skinks raced forward again, just getting into range of the Sorceress and Shade, the saurus advanced a few inches and the bastiladon turned to face the Medusa.

In the magic phase the Bastiladon again cast the Beam of Chotec with irresistible force, incinerating the medusa with a punishing 2D6 S5 hits, needless to say the snake lady was no more.

Now you see her


Now you don't, pew pew


In the shoot phase the skinks killed the last surviving shade and the Sorceress with their blow darts.

Dark Elves T3

The Witch elves elected not to declare a charge on the saurus because of the distance, but failed their test to restrain charge (because of frenzy) and were instead forced to declare against the skinks. The skinks fled and got away by the skin of their teeth, leaving the witch elves skipping forward 5 inches, crucially exoposing their flank to the saurus.

The RBT gallantly tried top bail the With elves out by opening up its multi-shot mode on the saurus and somewhat heroically managed to bring down 4 of them.

Lizardmen T4
The Saurus perfectly executed a mighty 13" charge into the flank of the Witch elves, the skinks rallied and the Bastiladon turned around attempted to lumber after the saurus.

With no viable target for the Beam of Chotec there was no magic this turn.

In the Combat phase the two witch elves on the flanks hit with all 6 of their attack, then proceeded to cause only two wounds, one of which predictably bounced off the saurus' armour. The Scar Vet struck first, culling three of the elves, while his saurus chums accounted for a further 4 more. Losing combat by 8 the Witch elf command group needed insane courage to stay, but regrettably the insanity seemed to have been beated out of them and they headed for the hills with the saurus hard on their heels.



Dark Elves T4
Was over pretty quickly, the Witch Elves rallied and the RBT fired again at the saurus, managing to kill only 1 this time.

Lizardmen T5
The Scar Veteran charged out of his unit into the bolt thrower, easily dismantling it in combat while the skinks moved up and mowed down the last 3 witch elves and the day was won.

 

[Spiney Norman]

Game 2: The Bro down

This time my opponent was another Lizardmen player with the following list

L2 Skink Priest (Lore of Beasts)

10 Saurus w/ spears
10 Skink Skirmishers (pipes)

Stegadon w/ no upgrades

I was understandably nervous at facing this army because as I'm sure we're all aware the Bastiladon, whilst good value for points is not a viable counter for a Steg, or so I thought...

I won the role off and elected to deploy first

My deployment
The same deployment as last game, the Saurus took the centre, with the Bastiladon on their left, and the skinks on their right.

Opponents deployment
The Saurus deployed opposite the Bastiladon, the skinks containing the priest sat in the middle, the Stegadon deployed opposite my skinks.

I won the roll for first turn

My T1
The skinks legged it up the flank, but were unable to get into blow pipe range of the steg. The Saurus and Basti stood firm. The beam of Chotec was easily dispelled and the turn was over.

Opponents T1
His Saurus advanced towards the Bastiladon, the steg moved slowly towards my Saurus and the skinks stayed put.

He rolled a stomach churning 10 casting dice, giving me 5 dispels, this was not going to be pretty.

6 dice went on a high level amber spear aimed straight at my Bastiladon, the spell IF'd and then caused only a single wound, the skink took a wound and the rest of dice were sucked away.

In the shoot phase the steg shot at the Bastiladon and missed, the skinks were out of range.

My T2

The skinks marched up to the steg, the Saurus angled slightly towards the incoming enemy Saurus, the Bastiladon stayed still.

The perfect PD roll (3,3) give me a nice casting of the beam, doing D6 S4 on the skinks and killing 4 of them. They failed their panic test and ran back down the table.

In the shoot phase the skinks took no less than 2 wounds from the steg.

Opponents T2
The steg tried to charge my Saurus but came up short, the spear saurus made it into touch with the bastiladon and the skink priest and his unit rallied.

In the magic phase the skink priest successfully cast Wildform on the Saurus, making me slightly concerned for the Bastiladon's welfare.

I needn't have worried, the Saurus spooned their attacks epically, delivering two wounds, of which one was saved.

The Bastiladon killed one with his tail attack and another one from thunderstomps, drawing the combat.

My T3
My Saurus charged the flank of his Saurus, the skinks hovered around the steg hoping to bring it down.

No magic because the Basti was engaged

The skinks took another wound off the Steg, bringing it down to 2

In the combat phase the Scar Veteran killed 2 Saurus, my Saurus (envigorated by the solar engine) took down another 2 before they could strike. The remaining 3 Saurus put a single wound on the Bastiladon which was saved by his impenetrable armour plates.

In reply the Bastiladon promptly missed with all his attacks, but managed to bring down one further Saurus with his thunderstomps.

My opponent's Saurus were facing a -9 modifier to their break test and duly ran for the hills, hotly pursued by my Saurus (who had no choice in the matter) who rolled an impressive 10" distance and ran the enemy down. The Bastiladon successfully restrained and braced for the arrival of the Stegadon.

Opponent's T3
The steg charged the Bastiladon and made it into touch, the skinks ran up the table to shoot at my Saurus.

In the magic phase the skink priest tried to cast wyssans on the steg but I managed to dispel it, then he cast a low level amber spear and skewered one of my Saurus.

The skinks spat some rather ineffectual darts at my Saurus, managing two wounds which were both saved.

In the combat phase was where the dice gods really intervened on my behalf.

The mighty Stegadon rolled an epic 1 for his impact hits, generating two hits and failing to wound on one of them. The Bastiladon heroically rolled a 6 for his armour save. My skinks attacked and did nothing, his skinks attacked and did nothing, the Stegadon swung his horns and wounded the Bastiladon, the Bastiladon swung his tail and missed completely.

The Bastiladon lost combat by two, but thanks to the proximity of the Scar Veteran, he held.

My T4
The skinks ran up behind the opposing skink unit, and the Saurus did an about face, ready to charge in and finish off the steg which had been so valiantly held up by the bastiladon.

The blow pipes caused a single poison wound and it was on to combat.

If the last Combat Phase was extraordinary, this one was even more so, we did our usual exchange of ineffectual skink attacks before the steg swung for the Bastiladon, hitting and wounding with a single attack only. With a cheeky grin on his face the Bastiladon rolled a 5 to save the wound and promptly swung back with his tail, clouting the steg round the chops with his S10 Thunderous Bludgeon.

Bizarrely this meant that the Bastiladon won combat by 1, the Stegadon inevitably failed his break test and just managed to get away with his last wound intact.



Opponent's T4
Staring down the barrel of a mostly intact unit of Saurus the skinks resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible. The stegadon failed to rally and kept on running.

The priest cast Wyssans Wildform on 6 dice, getting irresistible force and blowing his own head off.

The Skirmishers spat a few more darts at the Saurus, killing two of them.

My T5
The Saurus charged the wild-formed skinks and ate them for breakfast, my skinks turned round and blowpiped the last wound off the Stegadon.

 

[Spiney Norman]

I go into the second round with 4 games, and 4 victories under my belt, this week my army grows to the following

Heroes
Ku'Qulkan, Saurus Scar Veteran w/ enchanted shield
Tichi'Wah, Skink Priest L2 using the Lore of beasts

Core
17 Saurus Warriors w/ Hand weapon & shield, Full command
11 Skink Skirmishers

Special
3 Ripperdactyl Riders
Bastiladon w/ Solar Engine

 

[pgarfunkle]

Hi Spiney,

Been enjoying your reports so far and looking forward to the rest of the battles.

I have to say thanks to you too as I have been playing the Basti's tail attack wrong, I read your battles and though hang on that's not how I've been playing it so went back and re-read the rule. I'd mis-read the bit about the bonus to hit in the rear and thought that the strength 10 was only in the rear too.