This evening I played my second 8th edition game using my new Lizardmen army. Me and my opponent are both new to this edition, our first game last week was documented in one of these reports. This will be an almost complete rematch, except for different setup and different spell lores after fixing a few mistakes in the original lists. My army list: Slann BSB (Life) 350 focus of mystery, focused rumination Scar Veteran 100 light armour, enchanted shield, luck stone 11 Temple Guard 211 full command 20 Saurus Warriors 238 musician, standard 24 Skinks & 3 Kroxigor 285 2x 10 Skink Skirmishers 2x 80 Javelin & Shield 10 Chameleon Skinks 120 Stegadon 235 2x 2 Salamander Hunting Packs 2x 150 Total - 1999 His army: (not 100% sure about this one) Lord 2 Paladins 2 level 1 Damsels (Beasts & Life) (in here a normal dispel scroll and dispel scroll that can wound me) 8 Knights Errant 8 Knights of the Realm 8 Knights of the Realm 8 Grail Knights 11 Skirmishing bowmen 10 bowmen 10 bowmen Deployment & Setup: I had Loremaster / all spells. He rolled Amber Spear and Earth Blood. I won the roll for first turn and chose him to start deploying first. I finished deploying last with my scouts, but he let me go first to get a ward. You can see the battlefield before and after deployment here from my point of view. Terrain: wood & hill in his deployment zone, marsh & impassable rock in centre, jungle tree and hill in my deployment area. From left to right; Skirmishing Bowmen, Bowmen, Bowmen & Damsel (Beasts), Knights of the Realm & Damsel (Life), Knights Errant & Paladin BSB, Grail Knights & Lord, Knights of the Realm & Paladin Chameleon Skinks (scouting 12'' in front of skirmishing bowmen), Kroxigor & Skink unit just off shot on left, Slann & Temple Guard, Stegadon, Skink Skirmishers, Salamanders, Saurus & Scar Veteran, Salamanders, Skink Skirmishers. Turn 1 Lizardmen: This picture was taken at the end of my turn. I basically moved up trying to lure the knights into splitting up, forcing them to circle around the rocks and onto my salamanders, positioning skinks to direct them away at angles so they had to turn around etc. The Stegadon stayed still to fire but missed the knights opposite with its bow. The skirmishers all ran up, including the chameleons who lined up in front of the woods to shoot in. The Skinks & Kroxigor swung around trying to lure some knights through the marsh which they themselves were immune to thanks to aquatic. In the magic phase, the Slann got throne of vines off and then cast +4T on the chameleons in case they were shot at next turn (which seemed pretty likely). None of his other spells were in range or had any use at this stage, I think he might have failed to cast something on the nearby salamanders which shut him down anyway. In the shooting phase, the chameleons did really bad and missed the lot. The skinks in the marsh (7 of 10 were in range) fired at the bowmen and killed one. Turn 1 Bretonnia: Photo from end of turn. As expected, he took the bait and charged the skinks on the right who used stand and shoot but did nothing. In combat they were annihilated, but it left the knights with the paladin facing out at nothing with their flank to the salamanders. The rest of the knights had moved forwards slightly, wary of the salamanders, and in the magic phase he got earth blood off on his damsels unit of knights (paper markers on board). His other mage cast amber spear at the salamanders down the board from her but failed, but both archer unit then shot at long range and caused a wound on one of the beasts, killing 4 of the 6 handlers. The skirmishing bowmen ignore the high toughness chameleons and instead shot one skink dead in the marsh. Turn 2 Lizardmen: First picture taken after my movement phase. At this point my combat blocks moved up just to get into positions to meet the charge where I could use my smaller units to flank them and use the terrain to my advantage. I moved the rightmost salamanders left slightly so the grail knights could see them but not the knights errant. I moved the other unit up towards the damsel and her knights. Here I also positioned my skinks so they could stand and shoot, and then his damsel would overrun through the marsh into my Kroxigor unit. I just had to watch those archers at my side, which is where the chameleons came in. They moved into the wood, right next to the skirmishing bowmen. The Slann moved up to get some range as the Stegadon moved up ready to counter. The next photo is from the end of the turn. In the magic phase this time I still had throne of vines, and got flesh to stone off again on the Kroxigor this time. I then cast Awakening Wood at the skirmishing bowmen but he dispelled it. I then failed to cast the healing spell on my salamanders, and he used his left over dispel dice to put down throne of vines (reducing the toughness boost on the Kroxigor to +2 not +4). In the shooting phase the chameleons dropped the skirmishing bowmen like flies, as the Skinks by the marsh shot at the bowmen with the damsel and maybe killed one or two. The salamanders then opened up (note the hole in his grail knight unit that was not there a moment ago). On the left, one miscast and the other did no damage thanks to the damsels ward save of 6+ (despite flaming negating her magical regeneration of 5+). On the right however, both got the grail knight unit which resulted in three of them being burned alive. Turn 2 Bretonnia: Notice what I am missing in the picture above compared to last turn? His knights with damsel charged the salamanders, who fled as they cannot stand and shoot, and he redirected them into the skinks as expected, whose stand and shoot did nothing. They lost a model to dangerous terrain when going through into the Kroxigor afterwards though as I planned. The other salamanders were charged too by the grail knights, but when they fled this unit was caught and destroyed. His errant and the misplaced knights of the realm had by now wheeled about to close back in on the fighting. In his magic phase, I made the mistake of dispelling earth blood now that the damsel was in combat with my only three dispel dice, and letting him get off the amber spear. He managed to cast the boosted version, hurled it straight into the Stegadon and did 6 wounds!! Skewered the beast straight through the heart just as it was lining up a counter charge. Anyone who read the last game report will know that this guy has done nothing in both games now! Turn 3 Lizardmen: It was charge or be charged with the Saurus so I threw them into the flank of the grail knights. I had rallied my remaining salamanders but other than the Slann everything I had left was now engaged apart from the chameleons who moved to the edge of the wood, to remain in soft cover but shoot at the bowmen from the side. The Slann led his Temple Guard up a few inches, and then in the magic phase had throne of vines dispelled with a scroll, as well as something else with the scroll that luckily didn't wound me. Then I cast dwellers on the damsel and her knights, with Irresistible force and a Miscast! The results were quite catastrophic, if a little funny... The Slann blew its top and the unit had to take a panic test due to high casualties which it failed on triple 6's!!!!!!!! The Damsel and three of her knights were dragged below by the dwellers. They later broke and caught the Kroxigor unit in combat which is when the picture was taken. The chameleons shot enough archers to send the rest running too, and they continued to do so until they left the board on an 11'' roll the next turn! The Scar Veteran and Bretonnian Lord enter a duel. They both wound each other once, but in the big combat around them I win and he breaks (even with a re-roll from his BSB) and runs through his nearby knights of the realm stopping one inch beyond. They test for panic and remain, so I overrun straight into the side of them too! End of turn shots: Turn 3 Bretonnia: Since losing my Stegadon and Kroxigor, and miscasting to destroy most of my Temple Guard, things had started to go downhill for me after what looked like a pretty even game perhaps slightly even in my advantage. Now the tables had turned though, his grail knights rallied and his knights on the left wing charged my already fleeing Slann and rolled high enough to catch up as he tried desperately to get away. In the combat phase, another challenge was started. This time our units and champions hacked away at each other to no avail, but his horses killed 4 of my saurus and being rear charged and outnumbered the Saurus too decided to run for it (what is it with me failing these 3 dice Ld tests?!) They were caught and at the end of that turn, my opponent was ready to accept his victory. Turn 4 Lizardmen: Not about to concede without another turn of shooting, which was all I had left in the army after all, my chameleons ran out into close range and pin cushioned the bowmen leaving only the damsel alone behind her stakes. My Salamanders then had a go at the knights of the realm who had just finished off the Saurus, and incinerated two of them even as another miscast saw the last skink get eaten too! Time was up, and what had looked like a promising victory and somehow turned into another crushing defeat. Here is the battle at the end of the game...
Stop failing those Leadership tests!! And man, you got to flank charge his knights and was sent to running by their horses... Anyway, thanks for the report, I really like your style and the use of pictures, makes the report much easier to read. Couple of things I want to point out, though: First, your Stegadon seems to be attached to the unit of Temple Guard. By the rules, no two units can be closer than 1" to each other, so you cannot keep the Steggie that close to the Slann. Second, I don't think dispelling Throne of Vines would also dispel the bonuses it gave to spells already cast. At least I haven't seen a ruling that supports this. So your Flesh to Stone would still be +4 even if the Vines was dispelled... I think your tactics were much better this time and you would have had a nice chance of winning were it not for your bad luck. Hopefully you can squeeze a win next time, and will share it with us!
Nice report. Unlucky that the dice gods turned on. How are you trying to win them to your cause, have you sacrificed anyone lately?? Anyway I thought I would just point out that from your pics you are using your skrox wrong as the skinks have to go around the outside of the krox as well as in front. Keep it up and you will soon crush those horse loving tin heads.
As far as I know, Skinks don't have to be on the flanks of Kroxs. Rules state that Kroxs need to be on the second row, but you can decide whether or not you want to have them surrounded by Skinks. Of course, that way your big hitters would be safe from flank charges...
Love my Krox vs Knights, I call them can openers One thing to note if your Slann (BSB) ever flees hes instantly destroyed.
Thanks for the feedback guys. The Stegadon was 1'' away from the Temple Guard, I kept it together to counter charge his knights but did not realize it can move and fire. I don't know who is right about the skinks and Kroxigor but nowhere did I see anything saying there must be skinks on the flanks as well, I can see the use of that though... How does the Slann BSB become destroyed if it flees? Is it because the Temple Guard are ITP?
It's not just Slann, it's the Battle Standard Bearer rules: if the unit breaks, BSB makes his/her/it's last stand and is destroyed defending the valuable standard. Having the Slann as your BSB is awesome in many ways and unique too, but has it's hazards.
I have just double checked and you are totally right. I can't believe I have played it that wrong since starting Lizards. Face meet palm.
You defintely don't need skinks on the flanks of the Skrox unit. I personally like to run them 6 wide, 3 krox behind.
Note that this is only true if the unit breaks from combat. If they flee because of a failed panic check, standard bearers are not destroyed. In this case Daneish, you played it correctly.
I used it in a few games since and can see it is worth taking, I passed a miscast to an Orc Shaman in my last game. I've started to include it since.