8th Ed. Lizardmen (vs) High Elves- 4,000 points

[Jabroniville]

LIZARDMEN (VS) HIGH ELVES- 4,000 points

So this is my first battle using the new Lizardmen, and my third time fighting my friend's High Elves, who ANNIHILATED my Orcs, and handily beat my Dark Elves (where were undefeated before that, I think). So here's to the third time being the charm!

MY ARMY:
35 Saurus (w/ Hero- Crown of Command & +1 to Hit) -- (purpose: by nearly unbreakable in combat, thus holding a flank or something)
12 Skink Skirmishers
12 Skink Skirmishers
12 Skink Skirmishers -- (purpose: do Skinky things- hunt War Machines, solo characters, small units, redirect chargers, etc. Also needed to complete Core requirements in a battle this size- Skroxigor seem like a bad fit for Elves)
25 Saurus w/ Spears (w/ Hero- Cold One & +1 Attack) -- (purpose: be another strong infantry unit, back up another)
---
6 Cold One Riders -- (purpose: heavy-hitting flanker to back up infantry)
20 Temple Guard (w/ Slann- alter Miscast Table result, all High Magic Spells, Skavenpelt Banner, and Oldblood- Piranha Blade & Armor of Destiny) -- (purpose: centre the army, be unbreakable, kill characters)
Bastiladon -- (purpose: first-time use. Also holding stuff up or taking some hits)
3 Terradons (w/ Skink Chief- Quango Exploding Egg Thingie) -- (purpose: Hunt stuff, hold up his Flying units)
---
Ancient Stegadon (w/ Engine of the Gods) -- (purpose: Flank & destroy, provide Ward Saves)
3 Salamanders -- (purpose: Kill lots of Elves, draw fire)
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Skink Priest (Dispel Scroll, Lore of Heavens) -- (purpose: Slann caster, Dispeller)
Skink Priest (Level 2, Lore of Beasts, Trickster's Shard) -- (purpose: Extra Buffs, Slann caster)
Scar-Veteran w/ Carnosaur (+2 Attacks, Charm Shield) -- (purpose: super-monster, killer of multitudes)

HIS ARMY:
30-ish Spearmen
15 Silver Helms (w/ BSB)
40 Archers
---
20 Phoenix Guard (w/ Lord & Level 4 High Mage)
20 White Lions (w/ Hero)
Bird Chariot
Hero on Chariot
Flame Phoenix
Dragon Mage on Sun Dragon
Hero w/ Reaver Bow
Bolt Thrower

Like most High Elf battles, it's basically four rounds of me cursing Mat Ward's name, and two rounds of "ehhhh I guess it's not SO bad". Stupid High Elves.

 

[Jabroniville]

DEPLOYMENT:
LEFT FLANK:
Skinks, 35 Saurus, Bastiladon, Carnosaur, Stegadon, Skinks, Salamanders, Skink Priest & Terradons
(VS)
Silver Helms, Spearmen, Dragon Mage & Dragon, Reaver Hero, Bolt Thrower & Phoenix Guard

RIGHT FLANK:
Skink Priest, Temple Guard, Cold One Riders, Skinks & 25 Spear Saurus

Ideally, my set-up was to have the Cold Ones flank for the Temple Guard (who NEVER break), so they were next to each other. I would have liked to have had an infantry unit over there instead of putting all 3 monsters in the same area, but my opponent had a wider deployment and my large bases meant I needed more room- plus there was a big icon thingie in the centre of the board, and I didn't want my TG/Cold Ones getting caught up by it. The plan was for the Terradons to buzz up the centre and get at the Reaver Hero & Bolt Thrower, or take out the Skycutter Chariot before it got some Impact Hits in. The 35 Saurus were meant to be permanently Stubborn, then let the Monsters do the flanking on the Silver Helms or Spearmen.

ROUND ONE:
-High Elves move first, and take out some guys with ranged fire. I attempt to respond, and rolled an incredible ELEVEN Power Dice! But you know how you toss out some more minor, "don't matter as much" spells out at the beginning, so you can save dice & make your opponent spend Dispel Dice early? Well I managed to roll IRRESISTABLE FORCE on a 3-dice roll of "Soul Quench", and not only fail to wound the Dragon with a paltry 3 hits, but do a wound to my Slann and BOTH Skink Priests in the process! Then suck away 6 power dice. So my Magic Phase kind of crapped the bed right there. Not a good start.

ROUND TWO:
-The Dragon charges into the Salamanders (who couldn't get Walk Between Worlds earlier), easily running them down while taking no wounds. The Skycutter & Phoenix charge the Terradons, who flee (no sense committing suicide), but the fliers aren't open to counter-charges. Archery fire kills the solo Skink Priest with 1 wound left (but that wouldn't have mattered). My opponent is holding back super-heavily, forcing me to VERY carefully move my units up, so everybody is angled JUST SO that if he charges one, he'll be flanked by another.

ROUND THREE:
-Silver Helms charge the Skinks in front of the Stubborn Sauruses (Skinks flee, and never return because of L5), while the Dragon aims itself behind them (my opponent always does this with fliers)- unfortunately for him, he didn't know that you couldn't fire Breath Weapons into close combat. My unit holds, despite taking pretty heavy casualties thanks to Stalwart. Naturally, I counter-charge with the Bastiladon & Carnosaur, killing all but three Silver Helms, who run off, avoid capture, but never rally. The Carnosaur overruns into the Spearmen while the Bastiladon & Saurus fall short (I did this to attempt to move up a bit and HOPEFULLY get more into combat with the Spearmen, and guard at least one monster from the Dragon's charge.

The Terradons die to the Archers, leaving only one alive (with 1 wound), and the remaining one dies fighting the Bolt Thrower crew (who I was hoping to at least kill). My 12 Skinks (who've been annoying, guarding flanks against the White Lions who are looking to go flying in) charge the Archers in an unlikely combat, but my opponent forgets that the Slann BSB is close by, allowing them to hold despite losing combat to the huge Archer numbers. This saves me from further Archery fire, which is world 90-some points of Skinks.

My Magic remains largely disappointing, as does his- I'm IMMENSIVELY defensive on magic, and we all have Level 4s.

ROUND FOUR:
-The Carnosaur takes some wounds from the Spearmen and the Reaver Hero (who charged in to help), but does a bunch of damage and they're Stalwart. The Bastiladon runs in, causes Terror, and both monsters Run Down the unit (the Hero escapes)! I rarely get successful Terror tests anymore! The Dragon charges my Saurus from behind, doing a TON of damage, but they retain a couple ranks. This combat will hold for SEVERAL rounds of combat, as the Dragon keeps rolling crap for his Thunderstomp, and the Saurus retain Cold-Blooded L8 Stubbornness. The Dragon Mage is quickly killed.

Alas, my Temple Guard do NOT fare so well- they are charged by the Phoenix Guard & Phoenix (from behind, naturally), while the SKYCUTTER (who was WAY far away) also gets in. This goes VERY, VERY BADLY, as they tear up my unit, killing half of the Guard!! Thankfully, I assumed that since the fight was mostly lost, and I was Stubborn anyways, my Oldblood was better-served Hero-Hunting, and he Piranha Bladed the High Elf Lord & General in a single turn of combat. Stubborness saves me, for now.

Similarly, my 25 Spear Saurus die heavily, as the Chariot flanks them while the White Lions kill TEN MODELS in the first round! Six Impact Hits on the Chariot, too, as I biff all of my toughness saves and attacks. The unit scarcely avoids being run down. As a counter to the TG drubbing (L9 Stubborn BSB is basically unbreakable), I charge the Ancient Stegadon into the flank of the Phoenix Guard, which is actually able to turn the tide enough to WIN COMBAT for one round, which chases the Skycutter and Phoenix away (no General Leadership anymore)! Oldblood puts 2 wounds on the Loremaster while almost all of the TG are now dead. THe Cold One Riders, seeing the TG combat as mostly hopeless (and they'd get charged in the back by White Lions should they try flanking) go against the Archers instead (after they run off the last 2 Skinks), but don't do super-great.

ROUND FIVE:
-The Carnosaur & Bastiladon are super out of combat now, needing some time to recover (Carnosaur is brought down to 1 wound left by fighting & Bolt Throwers). The Dragon/Saurus combat goes on for a while. The Steg/TG (vs) Phoenix Guard combat gets joined by flanking White Lions, and soon the TG are dead. However, my Oldblood is essentially unkillable with the Armor of Destiny, and resists something like 10 WL attacks! The unit holds against BOTH Elites, because I have my Oldblood one-off the Level 4 High Mage!! I love the Piranha Blade!

The Cold One Riders actually don't fare so well, and are eventually killed to the last by Archers (I assumed their high strength would win the day, but they actually have to HIT THEM FIRST). The Chariot attempts to blast my tiny Saurus unit (6 plus Hero), but actually loses- I kill the Hero in one round, and do away with the Chariot in the next. The Skycutter Chariot flanks my Stegadon once it rallies, and brings down it's last wound, and my Slann dies in either this or Round 4, dropping about 500 points.

ROUND SIX:
-Mostly uneventful in his turn, but my Saurus finally kills the Dragon after the unit is FINALLY able to turn around and rally amidst defeat (I was fighting from the rear with only a couple guys and a Hero, who was NOT kitted out for Dragon fighting)- thank goodness for those bad Thunderstomps and Stubborn. The Oldblood finally dies to a regular Phoenix Guard Champion. My turn goes more my way, as one of the underused Skink units comes flying in and kills the Reaver Bow Hero! The Bastiladon charges the Bolt Thrower (flee from Terror), and the Carnosaur does the same to the Archers, with the same result! THREE successful Terror tests! Good thing, too, because the Archers would likely have killed the 1-wound Monster with a Stand & Shoot.

THE END RESULT:
Despite four straight rounds of drubbing from the High Elves and their ridiculous hit-percentages, high strength and incredible movement, it's 2,897 to 2,562, in MY FAVOUR! I actually come out in the lead! This was a BIG surprise actually, as I assumed the combination of losing the Slann, Oldblood & Temple Guard would have killed me. But, since this was the first time we used the new Victory Point Rules of 8th Edition, it's "fled or dead", which means my pitiful Saurus Units of only 3-5 models don't give him any VPs! That, plus wiping out all of his Core and nearly all of his Characters (only the Loremaster was left alive in the end) put me out in the end.

RESULT: Minor Victory for the Lizardmen

 

[The Hunted]

Great report, massive battle!

Seems like you had a rough time, but scraping in the points and charging with your terror-causers won you the game!

I noticed you said that breath weapon don't work in close combat. Which isn't true. P. 67 of the BRB gives you an option of close combat breath weapon attack. This basically means that instead of the template, you do 2d6 automatic hits on the enenmy unit. But still allowing for a breath weapon to be used in close combat.

Otherwise; good report, hope to see more!

The Hunted

 

[Jabroniville]

Sorry, I meant that the Dragon was trying to fire into the Saurus fighting the Silver Helms- the Dragon was not actually involved in the Close Combat. He assumed he could fire the Template over them as long as he didn't touch his own unit. That's what got him in trouble.

UNIT-BY-UNIT ASSESSMENT:
SLANN: Kind of messed up, as his Banner didn't help me out much (not enough left alive to matter with Frenzy), and crapping up his first Magic Phase was horribly disappointing. Actually, I didn't get off ANY big Magic Spells for the entire game- no buffs or anything aside from Apotheosis once or twice! However, he pays for himself with the TG Bunker and his high Leadership.
OLDBLOOD: Easily made his points back by single-handedly killing two Lords- a High Mage and a General. Kind of hard to argue with results like THAT. People discounted the Oldblood because the Scar-Vets are almost as good, but remember that the 50 extra points of Magic Items can make all the difference- you become an offensive AND defensive monster. So it's 100 extra points for extra awesome, and I think it's worth it.
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SCAR-VETERAN (Stubborn): I was pretty much always Stalwart, so he didn't matter so much. But had I failed a turn or two particularly horribly and lost all my ranks, I'd have been in trouble without the Crown of Command. Being +1 to Hit is great against Elves, but not as worthwhile against a Dragon, even a Sun variety.
SCAR-VETERAN (Cold One): Didn't do much in the fight against the White Lions, but he still survived, along with all the Scar-Vets. I think he killed the Hero on the Chariot, and his whole unit basically saved points by not dying (he was down to just him and two other guys).
SCAR-VETERAN (Carnosaur): Hard to argue with seeing off the Silver Helms, holding the Spearmen, then running off an entire unit of Archers (no chance to rally since it was Turn 6). The Carnosaur nearly died in the process, and he didn't get to fight the big monsters he's normally designed for, but what the hey. It's VERY handy having this as an option for Scar-Vets, too- you can still take a Blender Oldblood, and it frees up Lord points, and you can still take a Stegadon elsewhere anyways.
SKINK CHIEF (Terradon): Didn't get into combat, died to shooting. Terradons don't seem like a good choice against Elves.
SKINK PRIEST (Heavens): Died on Turn Two.
SKINK PRIEST (Beasts): Didn't get off a single spell. At least he didn't die.
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35 SAURUS: Held against both 15 Silver Helms, then a Sun Dragon. Pretty much did what they were meant to- survive and allow for Flank Charges.
25 SAURUS: Disappointing- Saurus are great at killing Elves, but the White Lions EFFORTLESSLY carved them up.
SKINKS 1: Never rallied from that flee from charge. I could have used them to redirect the Silver Helms, but their speed would have made them run up my butt eventually anyways.
SKINKS 2: Did nothing until they offed that Hero! Not bad- probably worth more points than them.
SKINKS 3: Buggered up the High Elf Charge chances, then held up 40 Archers' shooting for a turn or two. Good enough for their cost, I say!
---
20 TEMPLE GUARD: One of their worst performances (even with a Frenzy banner), but the odds were stacked against them. The whole "Stubborn" thing makes them worth it anyways, by holding that combat despite over 50% losses.
6 COLD ONES: Kind of disappointing- I didn't want to set up a Rear Charge, so I never tried to flank the TG's enemies with them like I planned (they would've charged the Skycutter anyways), and then they failed to kill all that many Archers. Just bad rolling. But considering even THIS many of the guys costs as much as a full Saurus Unit of 20 guys, I can see why a lot of people don't plan on taking them.
3 TERRADONS: Disappointing. I wanted to counter Fliers or kill small things, but instead they just got shot.
BASTILADON: Terror chased off the Spearmen (who could have killed the Carnosaur, netting over 200 VPs), then the Bolt Thrower crew, adding up to WAY past 150 points! Pretty much did jack all in combat, though- low-accuracy and all that.
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ANCIENT STEGADON: Probably saved the Temple Guard combat with it's Impact Hits & power. Probably most-responsible for knocking the P.Guard down by a ways, resulting in fewer hits coming at me. It's Ward Save-bestowing down about jack all.
3 SALAMANDERS: Disappointing, since they died so quickly without delivering a wound.

Overall, I'm satisfied with some aspects of the army- the Oldbloods are still great, Scar-Vets are still great, the Saurus can still hold up well against powerful units (but certainly not HE Elites), and the Bastiladon looks pretty great considering it's a very cheap Monster. The Slann being less cheesy with it's new options is a good thing, but I was disappointed that I didn't get to use hardly ANY High Magic. But then again, my Level 4 Slann meant that my OPPONENT got none of his good spells off, either!

 

[Blackthorne]

Good write-up! That was as fun batrep and it sounds like your learning some of the things that work well for you and what doesn't.

I got a bit confused at one part. When the bastiladon charged the unit of spearmen that was already in combat, did they take a terror test?

 

[Caprasauridae]

Thanks for the battle report and congrats on the win! I really enjoyed your list, makes me want to try monster mash. Though I still have ways to go, as I just bought my first monster, a Stegadon...

I was also going to ask about the terror test the Bastiladon induced. Units locked in combat don't have to take terror tests, they are too busy to be terrified with the current foe.