Tonight saw the Bretonnians return to the battlefield opposite my Lizardmen under the command of my previous opponent. This is the third game against the Bretonnians (and number 6 in my series of battle reports), and so far the Brets were 2-0 up against the forces of Lustria. I decided to tailor my list this time to: a) take a magic lore that would be more effective against the Bretonnians. b) an army that could withstand the charge of the knights then hit back hard. Here is my list: 395 - Slann BSB (Lore of Metal) - focus of mysteries, focused rumination, cupped hands 355 - Skink Priest on Engine of the Gods 492 - 40 Saurus Warriors - spears, standard 348 - 20 Temple Guard - champion, standard 165 - 3 Kroxigor 96 - 8 Chameleon Skinks 150 - 2 Salamander Hunting Packs Total - 2001 His army as before: Lord - lance that grants extra attacks for wounds on the charge Paladin Paladin BSB Damsel on steed (Life) Damsel on foot (Beasts) [in here dispel scroll, silver mirror and a potion to add 1 to any dice) 8 Knights of the Realm 8 Knights of the Realm 8 Knights Errant 8 Grail Knights 2x 10 Bowmen 10 Skirmishing Bowmen We rolled for Spells: Slann - Loremaster (Metal) Skink Priest - 1 - Harmonic Conversion Life Damsel - 3 - swapped for Earth Blood Beasts Damsel - 6 - swapped for Wysons Wildform Deployment: Here is a picture of each side of the map from my POV after deployment, terrain setup as seen with a large area of difficult terrain, plus hills and a few impassable terrain pieces. Left to Right: Salamanders, Slann & Temple Guard, Stegadon, Saurus Horde, Kroxigor (on flank), Chameleons scouting (top right hill) Bowmen, Bowmen & Damsel, Knights Errant & Paladin, Knights of the Realm & Damsel, Grail Knights & Lord, Knights of the Realm & BSB, Skirmishing Bowmen. The Bretonnian player Prayed for a ward save so I got the first turn... Turn 1 Lizardmen: I moved my blocks up into a curving formation to lure the knights in, already planning to force most of them to hit the Saurus with my next move. My Kroxigor marched up the right flank to wheel around the dangerous terrain and hopefully get a rear charge on the knights. I forgot to move the Chameleons up before declaring the Magic phase so they were left too far away to shoot the skirmishing bowmen. In the magic the Engine cast a ward save on the units around it and the Slann cast a few missiles at the Grail Knights but all of them were dispelled, including Final Transmutation. This used up his Silver Mirror and all his dispel dice, the magic item wounding the Slann with it's strength 6 hit. Turn 1 Bretonnia: As expected, the Knights all came forwards their full 16'' march move into the middle of the board (ignore the positioning on the hill all four units are level but the angle of the hill meant some models would not stand up). The skirmishing bowmen turned about to shoot at the Chameleons who stupidly had not shot them last turn. The Magic phase was short as I dispelled his attempt at Wildform, but he got Earth Blood on the Knights with the Damsel as I failed to dispel. In the shooting phase, the longbow archers on the left flank shot down a Salamander and a few handlers, and the Skirmishing Bowmen shot at the Chameleons and missed every shot! Turn 2 Lizardmen: I thought about charging, but as I would have to get a high roll even on the Stegadon I decided against the idea, as likely I would just stumble forwards with a failed charge roll. Instead, I wheeled the Saurus this way then that to get their flank against the terrain and their front facing all the knights. The Stegadon I kept back, hoping to counter charge with it, but pivoted slightly for the arc. The Temple Guard I knew were likely to get charged so rather than shy away I moved them up into a good flanking position should my opponent instead choose the Stegadon. Either way he would have one unit counter charging his flank after he charged me next turn. In this magic phase things went a lot better. The Engine of the Gods cast a 5+ ward save bubble around itself again, before I used Searing Doom (or something like that) which drew out the other Dispel Scroll. Next I cast the Final Transmutation on the Grail Knights again, and turned 2 of them to gold! Not a lot but there are only 8 models and a character in each of these units so I decided it best to wear them down wherever I could. However the best was still to come, as in the shooting phase the Salamander lined up a diagonal shot that bounced 10'' and ended up covering three Knights Errant and six Grail Knights. All of the Errant Knights burned, and another Grail fell from the saddle behind them. Not forgetting the Chameleons this turn, who had moved up right in front of the Skirmishing Bowmen, they shot down 6 of the 10. The other 4 panicked and fled the board! Turn 2 Bretonnia: Hammer time. In my last two games these charges had all but broken my army, but this time the Saurus horde did me proud and held to the joint charges of the Grail Knights and both Knights of the Realm units. The Errant Knights decided to charge the Stegadon rather than the Temple Guard, at least preventing it's impact hits on the counter charge. In the Magic phase I shut down Wildform again and also dispelled Earth Blood, not wanting my opponent to get the combat boosts (he had enough of those from his lances). This time in the shooting phase his archers finished off the Skink handlers but could not hit the Salamander, who passed his leadership test for losing all his handlers. In the first combats of the game, the Saurus held out pretty well and only took 8 casualties from the combined lance charges of 3 Bretonnian Knight units each with a character too. The Lord killed 2 of those, the rest spread out across the units and I think even 1 from a horse. In retaliation the Saurus killed several knights, fighting in all 4 ranks thanks to the horde & spear rules. I decided the best way to win these fights was to eliminate the units first then gang up on the characters or beat them with static combat resolution. I lost this round but the stubborn Saurus were going nowhere. In the Stegadon combat, the Skinks did nothing and the Stegadon killed one Knight, taking no wounds in return thank to the Engine of the Gods' ward. I would have broken from the combat but was saved by the reroll for the BSB. Turn 3 Lizardmen: The Temple Guard decided that the best way to protect their Slann charge from harm was to hack down the enemies in combat, and in they charged against the flank of the Errant Knights with the Stegadon. All I had left to move was the Salamander, who hid behind the hill from the archers, and the Chameleons who did the same by heading down towards the combats rather than crossing the open ground towards the archers. The Kroxigors continued their long march wheel around the difficult terrain, ending in the prime position for a flank or perhaps rear charge next turn. These three units were also in good positions to deal with any Bretonnians who tried to flee from the Saurus, either shooting or charging them as they fled past. In this Magic phase the engine of the Gods chose the Burning Alignment and cast a 7'' radius which hit both the Errant Knights causing 4 hits, and the Knights of the Realm with Damsel causing 6 hits! A few Knights from each unit were killed by the arcane blast, even as the Slann and Skink Priest set about casting their spells. The Skink Priest got Harmonic Convergence on a 12+ giving all three units in the combat rerolls on their 1's to hit, wound and for armour saves this turn. The Slann topped this off by giving the Saurus an additional +1 to hit with a Lore of Metal spell, but had to end the phase early due to running out of hexes / augments. In the combat phase, I tactfully decided to play the Stegadon & Temple Guard versus Errant Knights battle first. The Knights most numerous foe were the Temple Guard in it's flank, meaning if I could break or wipe them out I could pursue or overrun in the direction of the other Knights' flank, and join that combat before it was played. I did just that, the Skinks once more doing nothing but the Temple Guard and Stegadon butchering their way through the Errants until only the Paladin remained. I had enough combat resolution to make him flee, and I pursued far enough with the Stegadon to get it into the flank of the Knights of the Realm with the damsel. This combat had not been fought yet, so the Stegadon fought again after the Knights continued to chip away at the Saurus unit, but finding I rerolled my 1's on the armour saves only 2 more were killed. They had lost the power of their lance charge this turn, and in retaliation for the damage done to the horde last turn the Saurus began to make mincemeat out of the Knights with their bolstered attacks. Thanks to magic buffs they had +1 to hit as well as every unit in the combat rerolling hits and wounds. Needless to say the Knights did not last long. I did enough wounds to add to my combat resolution and force my opponent to require double 1's to stay in combat. They had rerolls from their BSB, but one by one every unit failed both attempts at their tests. The Lord and Grails turned to flee and were cut down, as the Knights with the BSB suffered the same fate. Only the Damsel, the last remaining model of her unit, rolled an double 6 to escape (My Saurus had rolled 11). Here my opponent conceded. I still had almost all of my army, and all he had left was a damsel surrounded by enemies, and another damsel with two units of 10 bowmen off on the flank. Lizardmen Victory!
Awesome battle and finally, a victory! Lore of Metal seemed to work really well, huh? Congratulations for being on the giving end of ass whooping!
Great report and congrats to the win. I have yet to face brettonians. i found one mistake though I think: the engine only grants ward save against ranged attack orginating more than 12" from the engine. 40 saurus is a sight to behold! Seem to be quite situational though or are you planning to take some more in the future?