Hey Mods - He's Right. Any chance we can pulls these last few posts into a Rules Thread? I have additional thoughts, but I'd rather not bog down (my own!) thread. => Yep. At least one 2000 point game tonight.
Game 4 - 2000 vs Skaven Date: November 8, 2013 Opponent: Skaven Point Value: 2000 Scenario: Dawn Attack Overview I knew I might be in a bit of trouble when Tetto and his Cohort went on the left flank and almost everything else went on the right. Still, these are things we have to learn to how to handle, so I didn't mind. My local group is enjoying 2000 point games. I like the speed of them, but little else. I just enjoy Warhammer more and more the bigger the games get. 2400 is about the minimum I like to play. Give me 2999 any day. In this game (and my next) I decided to see if I could use Tetto'Eko to get my stuff closer to my foe with the Vanguard rule. Maybe early pressure on my part could tip the scales. My army: 1 Oldblood on Carnosaur with Roar and Stride - Sacred Stegadon Helm, Light Armor, Talisman Preservation (4+), Great Weapon 1 Skink BSB 1 Tetto'Eko 24 Cohorts - FC 10 Skink Skirmishers 10 Skink Skirmishers 24 Saurus - Full Command 6 Kroxigore 1 Bastiladon - Solar Engine 1 Troglodon with Divining Rod His army (sort of) : Seer on bell with about 30 Stormvermin (spells: 13th, Scorch, Warp Lightning, Warpgale) Engineer (Warp Lightning) (in a unit of about 50 Clanrats) BSB (in a unit of about 50 Clanrats) Clanrats and Storm Vermin units mentioned above 3 Rat Ogres with one handler 2 Doom Wheels 2 Lightning Cannons 5 Poison Gutter Runners with slings 5 Regular Gutter Runners with slings Summary of Events I only got to vanguard one unit, so I pushed my Kroxigor toward his lines, opposite his Rat Ogres. He got to go first and charged the Rat Ogres into the Kroxigor. His Gutter Runners had both scouted next to Tetto and a unit of skinks that were nearby (the only unit that deployed near Tetto), so they settled in got ready to fire. His magic saw a Scorch killing 8 of 10 skinks in the unit by Tetto, leaving the other two to get shot by the Gutter Runners. Cannons and Wheels took off a few Saurus but not much else. One wheel did kill the handler for the Rat Ogres. In combat, the Rat Ogres killed a Kroxigor, but the Krox returned the favor. In my first turn I advanced my army toward his lines, including getting the General on Carnosaur in range to charge his bell next turn. The Krox finished off the Rat Ogres. His second turn killed a few more things here and there, including about half of Tetto's unit. In my second turn, the Carnosaur charged his bell unit. I decided to put all my attacks on the bell itself, in an effort to take away the Unbreakable rule from that unit. I figured I could get them to run and then the Seer would die that way. I hit and wounded the Bell 4 times with the Carnosaur, but he made 3 ward saves. The one bite that got through put 3 wounds on it. My Oldblood with his Great Weapon and 5 attacks did only a single wound to the bell. We played it that I could stomp his unit and did so. One hit, rolled a 1 to wound. Oh well. The rest of the game played out around this main combat. He had his BSBs clanrat unit charge the flank of the Carnosaur. He passed his 3 dice Fear check. My Carnosaur had taken 3 wounds already in the first round of combat, so I needed to minimize attacks on it. He was smart enough to realize that the best approach was to attack the easy-to-kill Carnosaur. I issued a challenge. Surprisingly, he accepted with the Storm Vermin champion. I killed it. Next combat I challenged again and killed the clanrat champion. The next round he refused the challenge so I sent his BSB to the back. This got my Carnosaur killed. My Oldblood was unable to kill the Bell. While this was going on, the Krox fought the other clanrat unit. With the help of the mighty Troglodon's roar, the Kroxigor did 20 wound in one round and then later did another 12. They were magnificent against the clanrats. After the first several rounds of combat, the Troglodon charged the side of the BSB's clanrat unit, looking to add come combat bonuses and Thunderstomp. He, like the Carnosaur, managed a single Tstomp and rolled a 1 to wound with it. Eventually the Oldblood succumbed. A Wheel wiped out Tetto's unit (which also had my BSB). I was out all my characters and he was still in great shape. Result: Significant win for the Skaven. Post-game Thoughts and Unit Evaluations Saurus You sort of need to have them so you have a foundation, but they did very little today. I'll pretty much always have a unit of them so I need to figure out how to use them better. Skink Skirmishers In units of 10 their shots were pretty much meaningless, but I accept that small arms fire in Warhammer generally is. I prefer the larger units of them, but will use them some more to try to improve. Cohort It was not a good game for them to shine. You don't get many shots out of them if they are in a block holding Tetto'Eko, but they are cheap. Like just about everything else, I need more practice. Kroxigor Awesome. Love them. Crushed the Rat Ogres, tore into the Clanrats. Must increase to 8 models! Bastiladon His laser did nothing all game, and his Initiative boost never came into play. He's a support unit that did almost no supporting. Still, for his low point cost, he's worth the gamble. Skink BSB His re-roll extended the life of his unit once. Good investment. I don't see the need to use a different type of BSB unless I go with a Carnosaur BSB...which I will. Tetto'Eko Man, he seems so cool on the surface, but he didn't really do a whole lot for me this game. It's just one game, but I have a suspicion he's going to leave the army pretty quickly. Oldblood on Carnosaur I'm starting to see a trend here. As a Tomb Kings veteran, I know how weak monsters can be. Toughness 8 is not much of a help, so you can imagine my disappointment at Toughness 5. So far, people are not having much trouble taking the Carnosaur out, which then diminishes the killing power of this combo quite a bit. He needs better WS. He needs more wounds. He needs....High Magic support. Man, I really, really, really don't want to add in a Slann, but it just seesm like High Magic is the missing ingredient for my army so far. Still, even after losing his beast, the Oldblood was able to survive a long time. Being T6 and having a great save + a ward lets him hang on where others would die. The Troglodon I continue to enjoy him. He was responsible for about 8 extra attacks for the Krox+Oldblood when I used the Roar. He added +2 combat resolution with his charge. His only failure really wasn't his fault - when I rolled 1 for Thunderstomp and then failed to wound, it was something would happen to any monster. Had he added 2 or 3 wounds to the combat, I very well may have made his unit run. I have yet to do much with his spit, and channeling seems to be impossible for me, but I still respect his contributions and flexibility. In a list like mine with several big things, enemies are not really trying to kill him. He's got a spot in my army for the long term. That's all. Thanks for reading!
Game 5 - 2000 vs Warriors of Chaos Date: November 8, 2013 Opponent: Warriors of Chaos Point Value: 2000 Scenario: Battleline Overview Not much to say here, really. Another 2000 point game. Same army as I used earlier in the evening. Pretty straight up fight. At least this time I would be able to place my units where I wanted them. My army: (same as last game) 1 Oldblood on Carnosaur with Roar and Stride - Sacred Stegadon Helm, Light Armor, Talisman Preservation (4+), Great Weapon 1 Skink BSB 1 Tetto'Eko 24 Cohorts - FC 10 Skink Skirmishers 10 Skink Skirmishers 24 Saurus - Full Command 6 Kroxigore 1 Bastiladon - Solar Engine 1 Troglodon with Divining Rod His army (sort of) : Flying Demon Prince with Soulfeeder, Charmed Shield, etc. BSB on Disc 2 Chariots 8 Slaanesh Marauder Horsemen Around 30 Warriors of Khorne with Halberds 4 Chaos Trolls with extra weapons Hellcannon 3 Juggers I think there was also another unit of Warriors of Marauders. It never came into play if so. Summary of Events I got to Vanguard three units and chose the Kroxigore, the Oldblood, and the Saurus. He got won the Vanguard roll and moved his horsemen into a position where my Krox and Saurus were effectively denied the use of their own vanguard move. The Oldblood sprinted 12 inches up the table. He went first. The Prince and BSB flew around the side, threatening Tetto'Eko and the right flank, while keeping his trolls within the 18" Ld bubble of the general. Is there anything that a Warriors Demon Prince doesn't do well? A Purple Sun failed to kill the Oldblood. Caress of Laniph put a wound on the Carnosaur and on the Oldblood. The hellcannon put one more wound on the Carnosaur, but the general's ward save protected him from the S10 center hit. The big guy had lived. In my turn I charged his Juggers with my General. In magic, the Bastiadon and Tetto tried to kill the Demon Prince but failed. Shooting from skinks did nothing either. Actually, all told I did put one wound on him, but he would heal that up in an upcoming combat. Yay, soulfeeder. The Jugger champion had to challenge and I had to accept. He swung and did another would to the Carnosaur. In return, the Carnosaur gobbled up the champion, but this did prevent the Oldblood from swinging and generating some overkill. Oh well. Much like the last game, the rest of this one then came down to seeing how much stuff my General could take on. While his Prince and BSB ate up Tetto's unit, and the Krox chased off horsemen and engaged a chariot, his trolls and another chariot joined the fight against the Oldblood. I would have challenged the Demon Prince with my skink champion, but he had died to a purple sun earlier. This left the dude and his buddy free to kill many, many skinks per turn. They eventually perished at the hand of demon evilness. Oh, but not before another purple sun had hit 19 Saurus, killing 18 of them. The Oldblood fight went like last time. The Carnosaur was easily killed before it could swing again. The Oldblood's equipment kept him in the fight for several rounds before he died. The only statistical blip there was it taking 2 full rounds of combat with all swing directed at the chariot (which even failed a fear check when the Carnosaur was alive) to kill it. It should have died in the first round, letting me swing into the Juggers in the second round. It could have been a big difference. Result: Huge loss for the Lizardmen. Post-game Thoughts and Unit Evaluations After an encouraging first two games with my army, it seems things are degenerating, and the thought that keep popping into my head is "You need High Magic to heal and boost the Oldblood + Carnosaur!" Dang it, I don't want to! I'll keep trying this approach for at least another dozen games or so, but it's going to be hard to shake the feeling that I could be doing much better if I would just give in to that inner voice. Skink Skirmishers They tried. They really did. By the time the game was over, they had killed three Khorne Warriors and put one wound on the Prince. Their other contribution was interesting. At one point my opponent sent his Khorne Warriors away from them because he saw that if he advanced past them, I would charge his flank, lose combat, and make him pursue me off to the flank where nothing was happening. So, even though they did not kill much, the dictated the action on a flank. Like I said, interesting. Cohort Not much use, again. I can see this unit going away the moment Tetto'Eko is dropped from my army. The BSB is more flexible in a skirmish unit anyway. Saurus Their total contribution to this game was generating a ton of power dice for him as the Purple Sun ran through them. Skink BSB Like last time, he let me pass a few more checks. Good to have. Tetto'Eko I'm now really disappointed with him. This game reinforced what I learned last game - great on paper, just 'meh' on the table. If I get bigger games where I can add a few Ancient Stegadons, then the Vanguard might be more useful, but is it really worth paying that many points just to Vanguard? Bastiladon He got a full power laser blast off on a chariot...only to roll 4 hits and do only a few wound. Pooh. His Initiative books meant nothing again. I really want to keep using him, but I'm seeing less and less reason to do so. I might have to take two of them an just a few little priests and plan to use my power dice on the Lasers most phases. Kroxigor They didn't do much, but they did intimidate a zone. People fear them, and rightly so. If they were a smaller unit, people would probably not be so scared, knowing they can kill them before they swing. With enough of them, it changes the equation. Oldblood on Carnosaur Really you can just copy the thoughts from the last game. Oldblood lives. Carnosaur dies really, really easily. The combination of low Toughness, low Wound count, medium armor, and low Initiative dooms him. Troglodon He never had a chance to do anything this game, sine he died to a Purple Sun early on. I really don't like small games. Thanks for reading!
Nice reports here and the summary and thoughts are a nice touch Just one thing about that last report, in a combat between OB/Carno and a unit champion you can still generate overkill, the extra wounds are not so much actual wounds but an indication of how that unit feels seeing their champion get dismembered, eaten and burped up in their faces. As I'm posting anyway, I vote yes to thunderstomping mixed units, though it can only affect valid targets within that unit (infantry, beasts or swarms), otherwise treated as shooting *edited for many typos*
Thanks, hilburn. The reason why the Oldblood+Carnosaur challenge thing is tricky is that you have to go in initiative order. Since the Oldblood's great weapon and the Carnosaur's Thunderstomp are both ASL, two things come into play: 1) If the I2 attacks of the Carnosaur kill the challenged model first, you are not entitled to swing with the ASL attacks. 2) If the I2 attacks do not kill the challenged model, then since both the GW and the TStomp are ASL, both will get to be resolved and could generate a bunch of overkill.
Hi Sleb, Sorry Tetto hasn't been working out for you so far. I use him A LOT and have rarely been disappointed with him. The Vanguard is nice but I really like the Heavens Loremaster. I spam the heck out of comet and control the movement of the fast armies with that. Against the Skaven, a nice comet behind the bell while it is tarpitted is great fun! To me, the Comet spell and Tetto's ability to reroll when it comes in is a huge part of the game. Just a thought. Have fun and thanks for the battreps. Len
Hi Sloboda. Sorry to read about the outcome of the battles. If you want to get full potential of the carnie you have to use some skinks as redirectors. So you'll drag some unit in a foolish pursue against less than 100 points unit, next turn you smash with your carnie in the flank and saurus in the front. Once you master how to redirect you'll see the odds smiling you. Avoid tied or hard combats, if something is a problem don't send your best tool to deal with it, maybe it cannot hold enough. Send disposable units such 10 skink cohorts to block the path and just face the unit in a position when the enemy unit charge against is forced to face into a useless spot of the battlefield. Flee and see if you got luck to use that trick again. If you fail, not much happen. Another thing I've seen after reading the reports is you are smashing your big badass against target you cannot wipe out in one round of combat. You should target things that cannot be steadfast if fighting alone your monster, like chariots, some weak monster, bad positioned chaff ,if you are able to overun into their rear or flank maybe spending one turn in killing 100 or less points is worthy. And I would use a Scarvet on Carnie instead of Oldblood, as you say, once the carnosaur is engaged , he dies quickly and some rounds after goes the oldblood. If you dont want to field a slann, the best way to put the oldblood is with crown of command, cold one and something that boost his survavility. You can happily send him against any kind of nasty things, pinning them and no matter how bad in terms of CR you are able to stay, And they cannot drop him out of his mount so he retains all his AS. Good luck next battle !
Thanks, Man0waR (and others). Right now I know I am not taking the smartest approach by just jamming my Oldblood into things. I can see where waiting could play out better for me. I even know it as I do it, but for now, as I learn the limits of the army, I'm having some fun just rushing in there to see what happens. By the way, is your name supposed to look like the logo for the band Manowar?
Loving the reports mate. I too have been using an oldblood carno and tetto. With tetto you need to keep him the full 24" away from everything as you have noticed he dies to a stiff breeze. Then chain lighting(thunderbolt is good for monster killing) and comet like crazy, everything else is nice but will rarely net you any value. Though I tend to save 1 dice for harmonic convergence on my saurus at the later stages of a game. As for vanguarding, next time try putting all your pressure on one flank while your saurus hold the middle, I have rippas for the extra vanguard support but try to make sure the carno is never in combat alone. The carno always dies on me too but as long as he's not alone the old blood won't fall so they can't get any points if he's not alone. I'm not used to playing at 2000 points so I don't know how much it affects the strat, but especially against elves don't forget you can look like your being aggressive and then just vanguard your front line backwards and comet (no range is stupidly good). It messes with people in so many ways and watching your opponents move phase is one of the most enjoyable parts of this strat or WHFB period. Also the basti is fantastic at supporting your oldblood, he will hold of anything under str6 for a long long time (2+AS), he won't add combat res normally but just being is support makes the fights go in totally different ways(people waste attacks on him), or even if he cant make the charge on the same turn, just marching him up to stop flank charges is normally a stronger use then throwing dice at solar beam. Happy hunting
Yep, Hail & Kill ! I am too lazy for battle reporting my games as english is not my native language sometimes I find my vocabulary is too short for completing such a huge thread that needs to be very accurate to recreate all those positionings of units. So if I could share what I should have done I'll do it without hesitation.
Nice reports Sleboda - I'm surprised about your feelings about Tetto. I've played about 12 games with him (7 prep and then the 5 at SCGT) and have found him to be a difference maker in every instance. Even when I roll a 1 for the vanguard he seems to have an impact. He was casting just as much if not more than my Slann at SCGT and I would suggest that at games less than 3000 you should still have an effective magic phase without a Slann due to loremaster Heavens and a 5++ (although the High synergies are hard to pass up). It comes down to value - a normal L2 skink priest with 5++ would be 130 pts, so you're talking about 55 points for loremaster, rerolls on the comet, and D3 vanguard. One of the best values I would think (if you are casting comet). The support spells can be great on the oldblood/carno as the rerolls of 1 (or their 6s) can help turn a tide especially when hitting and wounding is such a premium. One think I realized during playtesting was that the cohorts were pretty useless as a bunker. If anything reaches them they are toast anyway. I was running tetto solo early near a block of saurus for the 4+ LOS or just deployed him in the Saurus (on the front edge) if the situation warranted itself. Once the block was close to getting into combat I would scoot him out the back. If you dropped the cohorts it could free up some more points for the big nasties you want. Or beef up the saurus and add another unit of skirmishers (might be a bit low on fortitude). Have you been seeing good results from the bloodroar? It looks good on paper but I have to imagine it would work better on chaffy units on the flanks away from general/BSB - but then your general is on the flank too (albeit with 18" inspiring presence).
I haven't run Tetto yet (tonight will by my first game with him) but I think his vanguard ability would work best with: 1. Salamanders, you should be able to get in range with them on your first turn after vanguarding 12" 2. Skinks with Blowpipes, I prefer Skinks with Javelins because I rarely get an opportunity to multi-shoot blowpipes without needing a 7 to hit. However, if they start the game 12" closer, you should be able to move them within short range of something on turn 1. I tend to have better results with my Saurus if I let my opponent come to me, rather than rushing them into combat, so vanguarding Saurus/Krox/Stegadons doesn't work well with my play style.
Game 6 - 2000 vs Empire I played three games last night and the details are mixed up in my head, but I'll do my best to summarize how things went. Date: November 22, 2013 Opponent: Empire Point Value: 2000 Scenario: Battleline Overview I wanted to keep with my basic concept of monsters and aggression, plus not being yet another in the unending list of Slann+Salamanders players. There's nothing wrong with playing with those things, but those are not the things about the army that I find interesting. Tetto'Eko seems like he should let me play in the magic phase while also furthering my goal of getting something from my monsters. We'll see. My army: 1 Oldblood on Carnosaur with Loping Stride - Armor of Destiny, Dawnstone, Sword of Battle, Shield 1 Skink BSB - shield 1 Skink Chief - Ripperdactyl, Shield of Ptolos, Potion of Toughness, Spear, Light Armor 1 Tetto'Eko 24 Cohorts - FC 12 Skink Skirmishers 24 Saurus - Full Command 5 Kroxigore 1 Bastiladon - Solar Engine 1 Troglodon with Divining Rod His army (sort of) : Priest on Altar Hero on Pegasus with lots of armor and a potion of foolhardiness L2 Heavens Wizard (Comet, Blizzard) 2 Cannons (yawn) 6 or 7 Inner Circle knights 2 blocks of 50 halberdiers That's all I remember about his list anyway. Summary of Events I got to vanguard my Ripper Chief and my General, so I did. His opening round of cannon fire killed the Troglodon. My general was flanked by a Halberdier block, challenged, destroyed as he ran, having done only 1 wound to the champion and not getting any overkill. Tetto'Eko killed more of his own guys with miscasts than he did his guys with spells - a common theme throughout the evening. The skink skirmishers were killed by his pegasus. Another cannon shot unerringly blasted apart the Ripper Chief. It was over before turn 3 had concluded. Result: Crushing defeat for the Lizardmen. Post-game Thoughts and Unit Evaluations There's not a whole lot to say. Cannons. In my Empire army I would gladly pay 250 points each for cannons if that's what they cost. They are pretty darn good. I did not get to see what most things in my army could do, as they were dead so fast. Tetto is no impressing me. Small (fewer than 6) units of Kroxigor need to be smaller or keep them big. Five is a bad number. No per-unit evaluations on this one, sorry to say. Thanks for reading!
Game 7 - 2000 vs. A Different Dark Elf Player Date: November 22, 2013 Opponent: Dark Elves Point Value: 2000 Scenarioawn Attack Overview This is an opponent I've played a number of times with my Tomb Kings, but we've not matched up with his current book and my new army. I was looking forward to our game as he's always a real pleasure to game with. As always, I was going to play aggressively, especially since he did not have a Cauldron Bus. My army: Same one. 1 Oldblood on Carnosaur with Loping Stride - Armor of Destiny, Dawnstone, Sword of Battle, Shield 1 Skink BSB - shield 1 Skink Chief - Ripperdactyl, Shield of Ptolos, Potion of Toughness, Spear, Light Armor 1 Tetto'Eko 24 Cohorts - FC 12 Skink Skirmishers 24 Saurus - Full Command 5 Kroxigore 1 Bastiladon - Solar Engine 1 Troglodon with Divining Rod His army (sort of) : Morathi on Dark Pegasus A BSB somewhere I think, tucked away. 3 units of 5 Dark Riders A block or two of spearmen 2 Hydras 12ish RXBs 12ish more RXBs 2 Bolt Throwers Summary of Events Tetto'Eko allowed me to vanguard 3 units, in addition to the Ripper Chief. I chose the Saurus, the Kroxigor, and the General, all of which were deployed centrally. My army as a whole did not get hosed by Dawn Attack except that the Troglodon got stuck way out on my left flank, away from everything. We had one of those swamps that kills D6 models at a pop in the center of the table. That would be fun later. With Vanguard, I moved the Saurus up to the side of the Swamp, denying him his desire to deny me the ability to cross over the Swamp with the Krox. The Krox got right up to the swamp with Vanguard and then swam across it neatly with their first move. No D6 dead models for me, thank you very much! I also zoomed the Chief deep into his lines, past his shooters, in turn 1. He would be ready to take out a bolt thrower next turn if he could survive the hail of shooting about to come from his dark riders and the RXBs (who would be moving if they wanted to shoot me, giving me a little help). In his turn, the Shield of Ptolos proved its worth, protecting my Chief from all his bolts. I also got some help on the magic front when Morathi miscast a spell early and lost her Purple Sun, her Black Horror, and one other spell. All she had left was the Toughness-based Death snipe. Of course, I repaid her to an extent by making sure Tetto killed several of his own cohorts each turn with miscasts. Once again he did almost nothing in the magic phase all game. I can't remember exactly what killed the Troglodon this game. I think it was Morathi in combat, actually. It might have been some RXB shots. Either way, it died before it had any impact on the game. The Troglodon did much better than Tetto in magic, darn near killing Morathi with a laser blast and keeping pressure on his dispel dice. By the time the game was over, he had distracted several of my opponent's units rather nicely. Backing up though, the Chief did nail the bolt thrower and overran off the table, keeping him safe for a while. Skinks blew away some dark riders (killing all 5 in one unit with one storm of darts at one point) and then moved to duel with his flanking stuff (bolt thrower, RXBs I think). They did fine and eventually died. The cohort shots were also useful at pressuring Morathi at one point, but did not kill her. The Kroxigor/Saurus/General brigade mixed it up with a spearmen block and executioners. That was cool. I lost the Saurus, but it took time. The Krox paid dearly for my stupid choice to field only 5 of them. I took attacks from the Executioners, losing 3 models before I swung. In return I had only 6 attacks, but with PF and stomps, I still killed about 7 or 8 Executioners. Imagine if I had one or two more Krox. The Krox fled and were eventually killed by a Hydra. The Carnosar died, as he does, but this still left the general to fight, which he did. After so much else died, he stood there killing spearmen at a rate high enough to ensure I would not run. The swamp in the middle did claim one victim during the game. A hydra tried to charge but failed his roll, leaving him in the swamp, where he was sucked down into the bog. Burp. Result: Closely contested game, but still a loss for Lizardmen. Post-game Thoughts and Unit Evaluations Skink Skirmishers I think you just can't go wrong having some of these in the army. They don't cost a ton, are very flexible, and help fill Core. I understand those who favor javelins or blowpipes and can see the uses for each. I'll probably add some javelins at some point. Skink Cohort This unit is only there to house Tetto'Eko. If he goes away at some point, they will too. In fact, they are likely to be gone before that, as I'll explain in the notes on the next Report. They just don't really add anything unique. Bastiladon He was a plucky little contributor this time! I still say there's no reason at all not to spend the modest amount of points on him at all point levels. If he were more, maybe I'd have to think about him, but right now, he's just right. Troglodon This was one of those games (as was the previous game) where if I were not dedicated to making him work, I would find myself a little closer to agreeing with others that he's not so great. The thing is, I've had him do enough in other games, and feel like it was Dawn Attack that got him killed in this one, that I just can't give up on him. The model is too cool, even if I did break the oracle's back pole last night. Kroxgor What was I thinking when I dropped a model from this unit. Never again. Six is the minimum unless I go with exactly three for some specialized role, which I don't see myself doing. I reduced the size to find points at 2000. Dumb. Then again, playing such small games is not exactly a genius move either. I really don't like 2000 point games. Saurus I need to keep in mind that 8th is set up to reward large units. This unit was too small. I need to get it to at least 30. Hmm...methinks the cohorts are about the mutate... PF on S4 models really helped me eat into some Dark Elves last night. People can say what they want about the handling of the PF rules. I have no trouble rolling some bigger dice for the front rank. The drawback of having to chase enemies also has not hurt me yet. This unit may not be a world-beater like Nurgle warriors, but it's solid. Skink BSB I made some re-rolls. Yay me. Chief on Ripperdactyl He was helpful this game. He took out a bolt thrower and drew lots of attention. I definitely need to play with him some more to get used to how to take advantage of such great movement (again, coming from TK it feels almost like cheating to move a model 20 inches). That said, if I had to cut points to add Kroxigor, he would be gone. Tetto'Eko What a shining turd he is turning out to be. He looks great at first, but he's a stinker. I had a comet come down at 3 markers and it killed only my Bastiladon (I may have said earlier it died to something else, but now I remember what actually did him in). He killed several of his own escorts. His spells did almost nothing, even when I had 12 power dice and the opponent had only a L1 Morathi. It's stuff like this that reminds me why TK are so frustrating to play - magic can be such a disappointment. Lucky for us, we don't count on it to win games for us - or at least we don't have to count on it. If it were not for the Vanguard thing, I would have already gone back to 2 L1 casters. Oldblood on Carnosaur Dang it, I WILL make this beast work. Like the Troglodon, the model is just too cool not to. He does draw the attention of the enemy, so he's helping the rest of the army that way, and he gets the Oldblood deep into enemy territory quickly. Even when he dies, he keeps his VPs until the Oldblood bites it, so that's a perk if you like to play points-denial games. I just really need to figure out how to keep the beast alive longer. It was pretty cool to see the Oldblood hold off an entire unit on his own though. TTFN. Thanks for reading!
How is it even possible not doing tons of wounds on a halbardier champ? With 9 A and d6 stomps which all wounds on 2+, no AS, you must have been extremely unlucky not to deal those 6w to the poor fella.
Actually, Screamer, this fight was a good illustration of why I had been taking a great weapon previously. You only get to make the attacks that happen at each Initiative step if your target is alive. Since the Oldblood is I3, his 6 attacks had to be resolved first. I hit with 2 of them (no PF at all) and wounded with 1. The champion was dead before the I2 attacks of the Carnosaur could happen, and well before the possible Thunderstomp.
Sorry to hear about those battles. Yesterday I had an awful day on the field too. A day when your magic only harms yourself and the opposite magic goes awesome. I will be trying in the following games the next: - Kroxigor dart with Champion in 1 column 3 rows. (160 points) - 6 naked Cold one Riders. (180 points) - 2 Oldblood cowboys with light armour and great weapon (182 points each) So you place the units near each other. If there are cannons or whatever you need Look out Sir, you stick the Oldbloods in the CoR unit. If there is nothing you have to be afraid. You join the oldbloods on each side of the Krox Champion. In combat the enemy only can target the oldbloods R5 1+save or try to deliver 3 wounds on the Krox champion. On the ASL time, you will be striking with 10 PF WS 6 Str7 attacks + 4/3 PF WS3 Str7 Attacks +3 WS3 Str7 Attacks +1 Str 5 Stomp. This should be enough to kill any kind of non Steadfast unit. You should only throw against a unit if you are aiming to kill a character.
Oh, I thought the carno was I 3 as well. And I just assumed you had a GW... Combine the 2 above and my brain got overheated and assumed you could land all the attacks
Game 8 - 2000 vs. Bretonnia Date: November 22, 2013 Opponent: Bretonnia Point Value: 2000 Scenario: Battleline Overview Doh! Sorry. I realized as I went to report tonight's game that I forgot to finish up the last group of reports. Here's the report from the third game of the night from back on Nov. 22. The details are really darn fuzzy right now, so....yeah. My army: Same one. 1 Oldblood on Carnosaur with Loping Stride - Armor of Destiny, Dawnstone, Sword of Battle, Shield 1 Skink BSB - shield 1 Skink Chief - Ripperdactyl, Shield of Ptolos, Potion of Toughness, Spear, Light Armor 1 Tetto'Eko 24 Cohorts - FC 12 Skink Skirmishers 24 Saurus - Full Command 5 Kroxigore 1 Bastiladon - Solar Engine 1 Troglodon with Divining Rod His army (sort of) : 2 lances of knights, each about 10-12 models strong 2 Trebuchet (maybe only 1) Some men-at-arms units 2 L2 wizards Various heroic characters of killing and death Summary of Events Wow. It really is fuzzy. Holy crap. The big thing I recall is how we thought the game was over when the Kroxigor got a flank charge off on one unit of kinghts. Turns out, not so much. PF let me down and he stuck around. Prior to that it was just a lot of him going after me and me tossing my monsters around wildly. Tetto was useless again, but my opponent had some advice. I'll touch on that in a bit. So, yeah, imagine some Knights dashing toward me and my stuff trying to stick around. It didn't and I lost. Again, really sorry for the crap summary. If I were not trying to keep a log of all games, I wouldn't have even said anything about the game, but I really want to stay on this. Result: Lizard loss. Post-game Thoughts and Unit Evaluations Skink Skirmishers If my memory is right, they didn't do much, but that's my fault. I need to get better with them. Skink Cohort This was the advice my opponent gave me: Toss this unit out and put Tetto on the side of a larger Saurus unit. Sure, he gives up Look Out, Sir! the safety of being buried in the ranks, but so what? He's dying in the cohort unit when stuff gets to him anyway, so it's not like they are really any kind of safe harbor. I decided to try it out next game. See the next report. Bastiladon No memory of what he did. Troglodon He had no impact on the game. Kroxgor They were where they needed to be, but there were too few to make the rolls count. A larger unit almost certainly would have won me the game. Saurus I think they ran in this game but got away and rallied. Hard to remember. Skink BSB I made some re-rolls. Chief on Ripperdactyl Pretty sure he took down a trebuchet. Tetto'Eko I am getting really close to giving up on him. Let's see what he does in a few games with the Saurus as his escort. Oldblood on Carnosaur He really does last forever, that Oldblood. I think he actually killed a knight unit this game, or at least held it up. Gah! I need to make notes and report sooner next time. Again, sorry folks. Thanks for reading!
Game 9 - 2400 vs. Regular Dark Elf Foe (game 3) Date: December 4, 2013 Opponent: Dark Elves Point Value: 2400 Scenario: Battleline Overview As my buddy and I go down the new army path, we are each finding little tweaks, rules we have missed and so on. It's really fun to play this way and to see our armies grow along with our understanding. We're just going to keep on keepin' on and see where we end up. Today I decided to play with a little more coherency in my battle plan. Instead of plunging headlong into his lines, I'd keep the Oldblood near the Saurus Horde and wait for the opportune moment to combo charge. Let's see how that worked out! My army: 1 Oldblood on Carnosaur with Loping Stride - Armor of Destiny, Dawnstone, Sword of Battle, Shield 1 Skink Chief - Ripperdactyl, Shield of Ptolos, Potion of Toughness, Spear, Light Armor 1 Skink BSB - Shield, Light Armor 1 Tetto'Eko 13 Skink Skirmishers 12 Skink Skirmishers 40 Saurus - Full Command 6 Kroxigore 1 Bastiladon - Solar Engine 1 Ancient Stegadon 1 Troglodon with Divining Rod His army (sort of) : General on Cold One with Giant Blade, OTS, ward BSB on cold one L3 sorceress Hag on Cauldron 16 witch elves 10 RXB 24 Corsairs 20 Spearmen 5 Loaded Dark Riders 5 Shades 10ish Cold Ones Summary of Events This game had a fairly standard layout with two hills, two woods, and two buildings scattered evenly across the table. I got to Vanguard my smaller skink unit and the Ancient Stegadon. They were holding my right flank against his RXBs and a unit of spearmen. Tetto and the Saurus held the center with the general and Trog to their left and the Bastilladon to the right. The zippy ripper rider dashed up the left, toward his dark riders and bolt throwers. He won the roll to go first and so he could not charge with his Dark Riders, who had made a Vanguard move. Wanting to close with me, he advanced his witches and cold ones right at the Horde. Magic did little, as did shooting. He did send his Shades (which he had placed in the middle of the table to prevent me from using Vanguard on the central units in case I assigned it to them) into peril and his Dark Riders into my left flank. In my first turn I blasted his Shades into oblivion with the Solar Engine and tried to Wind Blast the Witches (who had the +1M banner) but he dispelled it. Shooting from skinks took out three Dark Riders, who panicked and headed for the left corner of my zone. The Ripper Chief flew toward the bolt throwers, nearly drawing a tear from my eyes as I moved him 20 whole inches without having to cast a spell to make it happen. In his second turn, we were sure the game was over. He thew the Witches and the Cold Ones at the Saurus. Uh oh. I lost 18 Saurus and Tetto before I could strike. Still, I had soft targets and lots of dice to roll. Too bad I only killed his Hag, one Cold One, and three witches. I really wish you could declare the Roar of the Trog in any combat round, not just your own. Oh well. The Saurus fled and were killed. Ouch. Almost 700 points gone, no wizard left, and a vacant center. Not good. I've learned from all my 8th edition games, though, to never quit. There are just too many ways for things to change. I pushed on. The Trog charged the (now rallied) Dark Riders and killed them in combat! The Krox blasted into the corsairs, killing a dozen and chasing the others down. The other monsters got into better position for next round. In his third turn, he re-faced his two combat units and shot some stuff, including putting 4 wounds on the Stegadon. Eee! My third: Seeing a chance for some thrillin' heroics, the Oldblood charged into the cold ones, as did the Kroxigor. My opponent wanted a chance to kill my general, so he accepted my challenge - General on General action! His attacks did two wounds to my general and 1 wound to the Krox. In return I killed his general and 4 Cold Ones. He ran and I chased them down. Special Note: I used the Trog's roar in this round and it made an actual difference, giving me the win. In turn 4, my Ancient Stegadon died to his spearmen and my Bastilladon fell to the witches. The ripper chief was shot out of the sky despite his Shield of Ptolos. I spend my turn shooting and blasting stuff, but not enough. We looked at the table and indicated to one another that we each planned to retreat so as to not give up points. There was nothing either of us could to to kill enough stuff quickly enough, so we opted to call it there and add up the points. Result: 81 point different (about 1175 to 1250). Draw! Post-game Thoughts and Unit Evaluations Skink Skirmishers One unit shot some stuff, distracted the foe, and then died. The other camped in a building and shot what it could. You know, skink stuff. Useful I suppose, but I probably could have done better with them by using them to give Tetto a secondary place to hop to and to also pull away the witch elves. Bastiladon The Solar Engine killed all the shades in one round, and then got a 1 (D3 S3 hits) next time (which generated 1 hit, which rolled a 1 to wound - 3 ones in a row, yay!). He was a good little tank and pulled the witches away from the line. Were it not for impact hits from the Cauldron, he would have lasted even longer. Great little 150 point investment. Troglodon Today he won me the game (or, rather, kept me from losing). He earned the points of the Dark Riders and his timely Roar generated several more Krox and Oldblood hits, causing more wounds. That was the difference in the General on General fight. He failed his break by a single pip, which would have passed had it not been for the Trog. Encouraging! Kroxgor Love 'em. Absolutely looooove 'em. Six is good, but I want 8. At 3000 I will definitely go with 8, and maybe even 12. They smashed Cold One Knight armor and synergized with the Trog nicely. Saurus Man, that was disappointing. Now I know why people get the Crown of Command. Coming from Tomb Kings, I never had a use for it. Now I see it. I will be changing my list to work in the Crown for this unit. If I am going to put so many points into this unit, it needs to stick around. Then again, I did suffer from getting hit by two absolutely murderous units (both of whom re-rolled ALL failed wound rolls and all failed to-hit rolls). It was pretty much the worst case for them (even taking 7 impact hits!). Maybe I need to play them without the Crown for a few more games and see. Skink BSB He did his thing, but never had to be used. Chief on Ripperdactyl Two bolt throwers took him out. I had been debating giving him the Dawnstone instead of the Potion of Toughness, but then the Oldblood would not have it. Had the Oldblood not had it, he would have died to the DE General instead of the other way around. Plus, when I used the Potion in Turn 1, it caused his Dark Riders to leave him alone, so it sort of worked. I'm not sold on this guy, but I see the use. Tetto'Eko He's going to have to do some pretty serious work to prove his worth to me. He's a strong candidate to go away so I can fit in the Crown. He's just not delivering at all. Oldblood on Carnosaur Yeah, baby! Dead Dark Elf General! And, if you can believe it, the carnosaur lived for once! That was neat. He was a bid deal today, even helping a unit or two pass some checks due to his expanded Inspiring Presence. I really like his load out, with only the "low" S5 being a problem. That's it for now. Thanks for reading!