I have been playing some Dark Elves lately vs. a friend's Lizards. The Witch Elf and Cauldron are incredible, but 2 Cowboy Scarvets were able to challenge out the Hag BSB and Kill the Cauldron fairly easily. After that the WE aren't nearly as bad. Get in there with your Scar Vet or Heck even your Carno and challenge away. You'll likely win the combat and even have a chance to run down the WE horde. I can't help but think you are just picking the wrong matchups for your cc. Keep fighting!
Game 14 - 2400 vs Ogre Kingdoms Date: December 20, 2013 Opponent: Ogre Kingdoms Point Value: 2400 Scenario: Battleline (I think. I really should make notes.) Overview I think this must have been a painful game for me, because I have little memory of it. Make the bad things go away. I do remember my opponent trying to throw the game and let me win - after all, why did he not have Ironblasters? This would be my first time not using the Troglodon. I don't mind not using Tetto'Eko anymore, but it really does bum me out that the Trog is dropped. On the flipside, I would get to bolster the Kroxigor unit and try out a cowboy for the first time. Terrain was its usual mix of stuff, making the table look nice while not radically altering the tactics of the game in any way. My army: 1 Oldblood on Coldone - Glittering Scales, Dawnstone, Sword of Battle, Egg of Quango 1 L2 Beasts Skink 1 Scar-vet BSB - Carnosaur (Loping) - Armor of Destiny, Great Weapon, Shield 12 Skink Cohort 12 Skink Cohort 12 Skink Cohort 12 Skink Cohort 30 Saurus - Full Command 5 Ripperdactyls 8 Kroxigore 1 Bastiladon - Solar Engine 1 Ancient Stegadon with Engine of the Gods His army (sort of) : 8 Bulls Sabertusk Sabertusk Sabertusk 8 Ironguts 3 Mournfangs Big Cold Monster Thing Big Other Monster Thing Big Other Monster Thing with a Hunter on top A few characters The rough deployment, from my left to my right was: Him - Bulls (Saber in front), Cold Thing, Not-cold Thing with Hunter, Not-cold Thing, Ironguts (Saber in front), Fangs, Saber Me - Krox, Rippers, Cohort with Shaman, BSB, Bastiladon, Saurus with General, Stegadon, Cohort, Cohort, Cohort Summary of Events Like I said, I don't remember much. I am staring at a photo I took after deployment. The only thing it's helping me to recall is that I Toaded the Bulls which I killed with the Kroxigor anyway. I'm pretty sure what happened was that his Ironguts and monsters got into my lines and killed me dead. Oh, I do remember that saving the points by taking Cohorts instead of Skirmishers is a horrible idea since they cannot then march and shoot. I had three units off on the flank and could only shoot with one after moving, but at least they killed a Sabertusk. Sorry, guys, but that's about all for this one. It's only included for completeness. Result: Loss.
Game 15 - 2400 vs. Demons Date: December 20, 2013 Opponent: Demons Point Value: 2400 Scenario: Battle for the Pass or Meeting Engagement I think. Overview This was the second game of the night from last Friday and this one, while still hazy, I have a bit better recollection of. Not markedly so, but a bit. Joe, if you are reading this, feel free to chime in and correct me like last time. I swear I'll take more pix and make notes next time. My army: 1 Oldblood on Coldone - Glittering Scales, Dawnstone, Sword of Battle, Egg of Quango 1 L2 Beasts Skink 1 Scar-vet BSB - Carnosaur (Loping) - Armor of Destiny, Great Weapon, Shield 12 Skink Cohort 12 Skink Cohort 12 Skink Cohort 12 Skink Cohort 30 Saurus - Full Command 5 Ripperdactyls 8 Kroxigore 1 Bastiladon - Solar Engine 1 Ancient Stegadon with Engine of the Gods His army (sort of) : Keeper of Secrets Herald of Slaanesh BSB in a huge horde of Demonettes Plaguebearer block (Herald?) 3 Fiends I'm sure there must have been more, but in the one photo I have, that's all I can see. Doh! Summary of Events From what I remember, this was a pretty straightforward sort of fight. We went toward each other, trying for good matchups. We both got some. He killed my Shaman with his first spell, a Leech. Oh well. It's not like I invest heavily in my spell caster in this army. According to the picture I have, it looks like I killed two of three Fiends with the Solar Engine and shooting and then his Keeper nailed my Saurus block, made them run, and chased them down. This left her exposed to the mighty Kroxigor... In my turn 4 or 5 I charged the flank of the Keeper with the Krox, who were down to 6 models at this point (but see the notes at the end). I also slammed the BSB Carnosaur, Ancient Stegadon, and Bastiladon into the Demonette horde. It took two rounds of combat and the loss of a few more Kroxigor, but in the end the big guys took out the even bigger girl. Woot! My monsters (Bastiladon in the flank, others in front) did wounds over time, including some decent Thunderstomps. It did not occur to me until after a round or two that his BSB was in contact, but when it did I killed her directly. The Demonette horde was dead by the end (right, Joe?). I think I killed the last Fiend with shooting. Result: I think I won. Post-game Thoughts and Unit Evaluations Nothing stands out that is not part of the units themselves, so... Skink Cohort I'm torn on these guys. Having them as cohorts and not taking a musician or banner is probably the least optimal configuration. If I am skipping command, I should just go with skirmishers. But if they are skirmishers, maybe I want to go back to blowpipes. I really just don't know. Right now they cannot march and shoot and have no command bonuses. Hmm. Saurus Warriors These guys continue to be a waste for me. When I look around at the Core options in some other armies, I get a bit jealous. I know I could go all skinks, but even though monsters are my main thingie, I still feel like I should have some blocks. Perhaps some day I will go with Cohorts that have Krox in them. That's down the road, though, as I do not have the models I would need for that at present. Plus, it sucks having to make my own command models. Darn you, GW. Ripperdactyls Two games played with them and not a single memory of anything they did. Bastilladon If my brain is not playing tricks on me, his blast was useful in this game, as was his combat support. I'm almost done painting him. My bases came in the mail yesterday, so soon I'll be able to show him off to you folks. Ancient Stegadon That Engine is really not worth 50 points. Why can't we just take a 200 point Ancient with no howdah equipment? He was part of a good combat in this game and that's probably what he should be doing every game. Trying to get shooting or other perks out of this beast is silly. Kroxigor Ah, my beauties! As I noted, the unit of 8 took two casualties prior to engaging the Keeper. Had this been a unit of 6 to start, I would have been down to 4 models and probably lost the combat. By the time the Keeper was dead, I had been reduced to 2 models, so yeah. There I stood, all 400 points of my unit preserved and one dead Keeper's points earned - just like the Old Ones would want it. These guys are great. Just make sure you take enough! Saurus BSB on Carnosaur Nothing remarkable here. Oldblood on Cold One Died with the rest of his equally crappy Saurus. Skink Shaman Sniped! No biggie. Thanks for reading!
I am also loving these battle reports mate and sincerely hope you don't give up on the lizards. I've been running 2 blocks of 3 rippas, they are true glass cannon but have done great toading infantry blocks and just eating them. Combo charge and it's an awesome blood bath that reminds me of zerg on zerg SC1 days. Also they will never hit anything against those ASF fucking pale bastards. As to tetto I understand how you feel but I love him because I really only use him for comet and vanguard. I almost always just charge my whole army up the field and then comet within 11" of my units, he can either charge me and face a comet or get charged on the following turn. It's a fun 1-2 punch though the more your opponents play against it the better their decision making gets. I love the idea of a trog but lets face it, the best thing he could be used for is a tanky arcane vassal and you don't use a slann. Half of his focus as a monster is gone out the window. Scar-vets on CO are far and away our best unit, they are a true swiss army knife and should always be holding your line or putting pressure where your enemy doesn't want to deal with it. In my case it's whereever my comet isn't hitting. I'm a big fan of Vampteddies idea to bring heavens priests, could go along way from turning your krox from scary into horrifying. If you like I'll post my current list (it's swed comped atm) and runs a BOSS (aka carno) Think I speak for all of us when I say never give up the children of the old ones P.s. If you want to stomp DE just take 2 oldbloods and 3 scarvets, not as fun but there's not a great deal DE can do about it
Hey Madrck, Thanks for the comments. Don't worry, I think I'll be sticking with the guys for a while, especially now that my bases have arrived - it would be silly to quit after buying those. I'm glad you and some others are enjoying this thread. I've thought about stopping it since it doesn't seem to get as many comments as what I'm used to over on the TK forums, but I have to remember (no insult to the folks here, hones!) that the TK forum is the most active, highly supportive army-specific forum I've ever seen, so it's probably not right to expect that level of interest in other forums like this one. Besides, in the first post of this thread I said there were several reasons for wanting to do it, and one was for my own use as a tool to track my progress, so no matter what that is still in play. As to specific thoughts on the Scarvets and Oldbloods - yeah, I need to get better with them. They really do seem like one of the missing ingredients in my army. I'm still trying so hard to avoid the Slann and Salamanders, but I think I can make some cowboys fit in thematically.
I think you'd find that if we had a little view button for each report you made, more then a few of us here read and love your reports. I know what you mean about fielding Sallies and Slanns (though tetto is my slann). The sad fact is it's our only scary tool against infantry. You could try an Oldblood CO, Sword of strife, Dawnstone, Crown of command. Easily deal with a witch elf horde, though executioners are still as scary as it comes. As for core have you thought about skink hordes? move up 30 javs to the face, stand shoot, 30 more javs. Won't hold for very long but it can give you center line a focus and it's poison. Keep up the good work
Joe...I have been reading you reports over here and I love them as much as I did when you were doing them on the over on the tomb king board. I am going to tell you now, what I so often tried to tell you when you started your TK. Stop making it easy for your opponents. Take some Salamanders. You don't need a Slann. I think the Oldbloods are a better lord choice. You can run a low magic LM list like you tried to when you started TK. That didn't work with TK, because you need magic to augment the other phase of your turn. LM are just fine in all phases without magic. Sallies are the LM answer to large blocks of infantry. Also..10 Skink w/ Javs for 50 points may be the best re-directors in the game. Not as mobile as a Great Eagle, but more durable. Poison Quick to fire is also very nice. Keep working at it and, just like your TK you will find a build that works for you. P.S. Can you post some pics of your LM army? I love the look of your stuff.
=> Thank you for your advice and compliment. Interestingly, if I had to add one or the other, I'd probably go Slann first just so I could have High Magic. I think High Magic fixes every issue I have, including dealing with infantry blocks. Granted, it can be dispelled and that's a big problem that Salamanders don't have. Salamanders would at least fit better in the monster theme I suppose. Anyway, I'm going to resist both as long as I can. Sure, I may use them once or twice soon just to see if I am correct (along with everyone else) that they are pretty much the missing link, but I really don't want my army to be the same as eeeeeeeeeveryone else's. As to pictures, they're coming soon. My army is currently in a basecoated state from when I started it out many, many years ago (around the time of the original release of the current Saurus models). I've also added much from the new range and only the Bastiladon is near completion (with any luck, it will be done by next weekend). Lastly, even the stuff that is done has to be re-based onto the resin bases I just got. Long story short - I don't want to post pictures until they are more presentable. Thanks for the interest!
I don't think I have posted in your thread yet, but I have read it all and thoroughly enjoy it. Your post-game recap of each unit is very helpful. Keep it up!
Re: Game 15 - 2400 vs. Demons Hey Joe! Been out of town just reading this now. It was battle for the pass. We basically marched/charged into each other pretty early. Don't forget the unit of horrors I spawned and then gateway'd 2 krox! It was a pretty close game overall. I made a couple minor mistakes that helped swing the tide your way, but it was generally well played both sides. The rippers toad raged and took down my soulgrinder with 20 attacks (even with the 4++ ward due to winds of magic!). Keeper was poned by the Krox but did take them down from 6 to 2 models (PS your 6++ engine ward saved at least 3-4 wounds here - earned it's 50 points in this game! I recall several Krox saves as well as a few bastiladon and carnosaur saves from the last battle including the last wound that would have killed the carno) At the end I only had my nurgle block with herald left. You won by about 300 points but it was a bloodbath on each side. The difference maker was pursuing with the keeper. I knew it would leave her exposed to the krox, but I needed to earn the points for the saurus, but more importantly the oldblood cowboy that I ran down. I gambled that I could withstand the krox - and almost did. Took a couple of combat rounds for them to get her. It was a good game! Looking forward to our next match. For posterity, my list: - KoS, greater gift, 2x lesser gifts (ASF sword, Lash, 2++ vs. first wound) - Herald of slaanesh, BSB, ASF loci - Herald of nurgle, lesser gift, L1 death - 39 daemonettes, FC - 29 plaguebearers, FC - 3x fiends - 2x individual beasts of nurgle - soulgrinder of nurgle (PS, we forgot to do the -1 on the rippers...oh well)
Hi Sleboda, I have been reading on these forum for quite some time but never felt the urge to post anything. Now your path made me. It's really well written and interesting. Based on your statements that you want to play -somthing out of the ordinary -rather Slannn then Salamanders -a monster list I come to the following suggestion: How about playing a list with a Light Slann, Scar Vet on Carno, Heavens Priest, Ancient Steg, Krox plus maybe Baby Steg or Basti? It would still be a monster list. Slann with Lore of Light and Carno are not a common sight. Iceshard blizzard, Pha's protection and speed of light are super tools to protect you Carno against all sorts of evil. I know it's magic and it's unreliable but one of these buffs will make a difference and two will make your Carno survive the following two rounds of combat and unload some nastiness. Furthermore, your beloved Korxigors love Lore of Light at least as much as you love them. Well, at least it sounds good to me on paper, would love to see how it works out. Regards
Game 16 - 2400 vs. Vampire Counts Date: January 1, 2014 Opponent: Vampire Counts Point Value: 2400 Scenario: Dawn Attack Overview What a great way to start the new year - a good friend, an army I've not faced with Lizardmen, and a much improved memory of events! Plus, it's sort of funny that over in the Saurus discussion thread I mentioned that VC can have issues with Dawn Attack and then here we have just exactly that. It's interesting how things work out sometimes. If I believed in fate, gods, luck, or karma, I might read something into this, but I don't, so I won't. Anyway, off we go. My army: 1 Oldblood on Coldone - Glittering Scales, Dawnstone, Sword of Battle, Egg of Quango 1 L2 Beasts Skink 1 Scar-vet BSB - Carnosaur (Loping) - Armor of Destiny, Great Weapon, Shield 12 Skink Cohort 12 Skink Cohort 12 Skink Cohort 12 Skink Cohort 30 Saurus - Full Command 5 Ripperdactyls 8 Kroxigore 1 Bastiladon - Solar Engine 1 Ancient Stegadon with Engine of the Gods His army (sort of) : Manfred the Lord on nightmare Wight King on nightmare with Shroud (ASL, no charging bonuses) Wight King on nightmare with other stuff All of these were added to a block of 12 Black Knights that had the Banner of Barrows L2 Necromancer (Invocation and Dance) on Cart 5 wolves 5 wolves 5 wolves About 50 skeletons About 50 zombies About 50 more zombies 5 Hexwraiths 5 Hexwraiths He started rolling for his units per Dawn Attack, and when it was all done, the black knight unit (with the three characters) was on his right, the hewwraiths were both on the left, and the rest was in the middle. Having his General so far away from his main lines, especially the hexwraiths, would be an issue, but one he could deal with if he marched over and used Dance. My rolls were pretty good. From left to right: skinks, rippers, bastiladon, krox, skinks+shaman behind krox, stegadon, skinks, skinks, BSB Carno, Saurus+General. This put my magically-equipped cowboy opposite his hexwraiths. Good. Vanguards popped the rippers toward the left flank to circle toward the black knights (who had a toad in them), and the wolf units just up toward my lines. He went first. Summary of Events Most of his stuff just advanced. Curiously, the Knights didn't head toward the rest of his lines as fast as they could. They just sort of moved toward me at a bit of an angle. The wolves tried to get in my way as fast as they could, and the cloud of stuff on my right (his left) shambled ahead. In magic, I let him Dance his skeletons toward me. I was not afraid of them. Manfred tried to Dance as well, but failed to cast, ending magic for him. It was then my turn, and I saw an opening for the rippers to do their thing. They slammed into the flank of the knights. The stegadon and Krox hit some wolves that were in front of the knights. You can probably tell what I was trying to do. If the wolves died, I could overrun into the knights and pretty much win the game on turn 1. The rest of my army took up better positions, especially for shooing the skinks. The only magic that happened was a Total Power blast from the Bastiladon that killed 2 wolves. In shooting, I wiped out a unit of wolves. Then it was time for combat. The krox and Stegadon wiped out the wolves. Both were 9 inches away from the knights (btw, all three characters in that unit had made way to the flank to engage the rippers). I rolled for both units and...failed with both, rolling 3 inches for each of them. Damn. So, it was up to the rippers to fight Manfred and two Wight Kings. Before I could swing (Shroud, Initiatives, etc) I lost a ripper. In return I killed one Wight King, but the other escaped death (got 5 hits on him and rolled 1,1,1,2,2 to wound). That's 3 points of resolution I would not get. After all was said and done, I was down to 2 rippers and failed my break check. That's when my opponent made an error (in my estimation). He opted to pursue them rather than reform to face his lines or get ready to charge my stegadon and then overrun past the krox and into my lines. He did not catch the rippers. On to Turn 2.... In his turn he charged the rippers with the Knights and charged my skink+shaman unit with his remaining 3 wolves. Other than that, it was a whole lot of shuffling. In magic, the Necromancer did little, but Manfred tried to Dance his unit back into position. I dispelled that. Most of his other stuff was unable to be effective, but he did put a Doom & Darkness on the Bastiladon. Combat toasted the wolves, keeping my Shaman alive (stand and shoot had killed 2 wolves on the way in). In my turn I saw that a unit of hexwraiths had wandered into charge range of my General, but probably not his foot-bound unit. I sent the cowboy in all alone. I ran the Stegadon over toward his lines and swung the (muscianless) Kroxigor in a wide clockwise arc and tried to get some distance between the Knights and them while also getting ready to smash the side of the skeletons. I opened magic with a blast from the Stegadon, which he scrolled. Then I put Wildform on the General, but it was dispelled. Shooting killed a skeleton. In hand to hand I had the mistaken belief that Hexwraiths were wraiths on steeds and would have 2 wounds and 3 attacks each. Therefor I opened the Egg of Quango to ensure my general would not die. It got the big result, but only managed 5 hits, 3 wounds. It was then I found out that they only had one wound each. Oh well. The General hit 6 times and wiped out the unit. As they were wiped out and not fleeing (not that undead can flee anyway) I was not forced to chase them due to PF (which, by the way, did get me an extra attack). I opted to spin a bit and get ready to fight whatever was next - likely a zombie block. I felt I had the game neatly in hand at this point, but then came... Turn 3 The Knights spun around and headed back toward the rest of the game. His zombies tried to charge the Cowboy, but failed. The skeletons charged a unit of skinks who, with their totally awesome quick to fire (a trade off for lack of multishot vs blowpipes) did zero wounds with stand and shoot reaction. Magic. Ah, magic. Mr Loremaster of Death and Vampires tossed a boosted Purple Sun which I failed to dispel by a single point. That sun went 18 inches and killed 7 of the 8 Kroxigor and the Stegadon. Crap. With his power dice thus fully reloaded, he cast spell after spell at a nearby skink unit (that I had positioned for redirection purposes) until it was totally dead. Well, that was a turn of events. See my post game comments for more on this. In combat, the skinks killed a few skeletons but only lost 2 of their own. Still, numbers meant needing snake eyes to stay, which the got on the first roll (BSB nearby). As my Turn 3 came around, I saw a few things I needed to do. I had to preserve the VPs of the Krox, so I marched that single model away from the Knights as fast as I could, heading for the safety of a tall hill. He would not get behind it this turn, but there was a chance he might live. The general saw the exposed flank of the Corpsecart and slammed into it. The BSB Carno got behind the skinks that were fighting the skeletons so that when the skinks died or ran the skeletons would hit him. Magic did nothing. Shooting did nothing. Hand to hand put an end to the skinks fighting the skeletons as they ran and were chased down. This did result in the skeletons fighting the BSB carno, as I wanted. The general rather predictably killed the Necromancer on Corpsecart, but it did come down to crumble. Turn 4... He got stuff into better position, trying like the dickens to get those Knights (and thus his general) into the fight. I don't remember which spell he was trying, but he got Total Power and lost 3 levels and 3 spells as a result, and was done casting for the phase. In combat, the Carnosaur took a wound, but the BSB and his Beast killed something like 8 skeletons, giving the Carno frenzy for the rest of the game. In my half of the turn, I charged a zombie block with the Saurus, retreated my general back into my lines as to avoid his Knights, and got the last Kroxigor to the safety of this hills. My shaman put Wildform on the Saurus warriors and the Bastiladon got a Total Power full strength blast on the Knights, killing 5! The Saurus killed half the zombies in combat, losing one of their number in return. The Carnosaur took another wound, but a lot more skeletons died. The Homestretch - Turn 5 His knights got ready to engage my BSB or the Saurus, depending on where they were needed, but still they were not actually engaged. My 200 point rippers had really done their job. Some sort of magic killed some skinks who ran despite the presence of the BSB nearby. The Saurus destroyed the rest of the zombies. The rest of the skeletons died, leaving my BSB free to do something stupid but fun. My 5 - I told my opponent and the gathered witnesses that there were things I should be doing at this point to preserve the win, but that I wanted to have an "Aww, screw it" turn. So, I charged the hexwraiths with the Saurus and the Knights with the BSB. In magic I put Wildform on the BSB, which my opponent failed to dispel due to him being down 3 levels. Ah, fickle magic. The hexwraiths killed 6 Saurus, but I had 3 ranks, banner and charge, so I held on steadfast. The BSB callenged. He accepted with Manfred. Manfred swung at the Carnosaur and only managed 2 wounds. The beast was alive to strike! With his 5 S7, multi-wound attacks I managed to get...not a single wound. Crap. That was my chance. The BSB made his attacks and did 2 wounds to Manfred. So close...or so I thought. Turns out the bugger has 5 wounds. Wow. Ok. Turn 6 My opponent wanted to claim the ability to heal that Manfred gets when he kills models, so he divided his attacks to try to kill the Carnosaur and the Rider. I still had Wildform up and as it turned out, that saved them both. Whew! Swinging back, it was a Manfred snack. Om nom noms. With the death of their general the Wraiths crumbled away and the Knights dropped to just 3 models left + the remaining Wight King. It was over. Result: Solid win to the Lizards. Something like 1900 VPs for me and 750 for him. Post-game Thoughts and Unit Evaluations It pains me greatly to not use the Troglodon, but their replacement is doing much better than he was doing. At least they are still Monstrous ... something. I was a little worried at first to face that Knight bus with Manfred and his buddies, but when I saw how long it would be out of the game, I felt better. My opponent really should have rolled for that unit first in deployment. Then he could have adjusted the rest of his army for where they were. The scenario made a big difference, but I was ready for it and he wasn't. I can't fault him too much, though. He's only recently picked up the VC again, so he's learning on the fly. I said I'd talk about the Sun again, and here we go. When my opponent cast that spell, silence hung in the room, awaiting my use of a scroll. I don't use dispel scrolls. I feel they are a waste, unfair, unfun, and promote sloppy play. My normal Dark Elf opponent was there and took the opportunity to, essentially, say "See, I told you so. Use a scroll." I had to remind him that I've played hundreds of game of 8th edition Warhammer now and I can count on one hand plus one finger the number of games where an UberSpell radically altered the course of the game and handed me a loss. Seriously, the game is meant to have spells like this in it. Why be paranoid about them? Suck them up and move on. And hey, lo and behold, what do you know...here was little old me with a L2 caster and no scroll, loosing an Ancient Stegadon and most of my Krox and what happened? Oh yeah, I STILL managed a big win. I just really don't see the need for dispel scrolls. Anyway, enough on that. The game was great fun, with moments of nervousness and lots of cool action. All in all, a nice showing for my list vs. a new foe. Skink Cohort As you've probably read, I've been trying to figure out the best use for these guys. Their shooting is not all that impressive, so that leaves redirection and interference as their main roles. I know I've been saying that if you are going to go cohort, you should take banner and musician, and if not, you should skirmish instead, but now I sort of see the value in staying as cheap as possible. Dunno. More testing is needed. Saurus Warriors They shone today! Granted, it was against crap troops and with Wildform, but still. They really don't need PF to work beyond the first rank to do well, but I should point out that a kept a mental note of the 6's I got from rank two, and it was at least eight. I'll take 'em if the rule changes, but even as the rule is today, the unit has its place. Just don't expect them to do what they were bred to do. They are no elite fighters. They are stock basic troops that can handle weak opposition very well. Ripperdactyls Granted, it was due in part to what I see as mis-plays by my opponent, but they really earned their keep. They killed a Wight King and held a major unit almost entire out of the game. Had the Krox and/or Steg made it to that combat (especially the Krox), I almost certainly would have had a Turn 1 win. These guys are fun. Bastilladon Today was his Day of Glory. That Solar Engine finally got a 6. It is nice to have this and the Ancient Stegadon in the list to use the power dice the L2 cannot. I can't wait to share photos of my paint job with the community. Soon! Ancient Stegadon The Sun ended him early, but not before helping to kill some wolves. He was lined up for a nice charge into the Corpse Cart before that spell took him out. I need to get better with him, and I still don't think the Engine with worth the points (plus the lost 'credit' of the blowpipes), but maybe I just need to get more experience. Kroxigor Oh how I wanted them to get their moment in the sun this game...turns out they did. Ah well. Man, can you imagine the carnage if they had made it to the combo-fight with the rippers? All would have been in contact for 12 S7 attacks with PF and 12 more S7 attacks without it. Even if only 12 hit, that's 10 wound and he saves 1 or 2. That's at least 8 dead Knights, and the whole thing crumbles. Gah! Would have been so cool! Oh well. At least the last man survived, preserving 400VPs. Saurus BSB on Carnosaur He was the game-winner today, taking out Manfred and sealing the deal. I can't believe the Carnosaur lived and then _still_ managed to whiff on his chompie chomps that one round. I'm a bit nervous about the lack of magic items on this guy, but he's still a big monster and therefor fits my theme while serving a purpose. Today he hung back most of the game while giving an 18" re-roll boost, only committing when the time was right. I suppose you can do that when there are no cannons on the table. Man, I hate cannons. They really ruin so much fun. Oldblood on Cold One You go! Hexwraiths, Corpse Cart, Necromancer...who's next? Having no ward save is scary, since I'm sure I'll face things that bypass my re-rollable 1+ armor save at some point, but until then I'll send this guy into most thing and see what happens. I think folks are right- Cowboys may be our best unit. Skink Shaman He does what he does. His Wildform saved the BSB today and made the Saurus better too. He's good right where he is. Thanks for reading!
Nicely played there. After your last few posts on this thread where you seemed pretty unhappy with how things were going it's nice to see you get a good win. Re: your dispel scroll stance, I wholeheartedly agree with you! I made a post about it on TWF last year sometime and it was met with universal opprobrium... With your cohort/skirmisher conundrum,, I think skirmys will do better for you tbh. Their better move and shoot range might see you get more shooting damage from them and their increased mobility helps the redirecting route. I'd be very unsure about giving cohorts banners. When they die that's another 25 vps gone. All of a sudden those redirecting cheap units give up more VPs than skirmys will. Did your bastiladon ever get into combat? If not, was that a conscious choice? Also, you were a bit unlucky to lose your Ancient Steg and to the PSoX. Doesn't it test on the skinks In of 4? Keep up the interesting reports. They make good reading.
Joe - nice win vs. VC! I was going to ask this as well - a major change from 7th to 8th ed book was the combined profile and therefore characteristic tests. I assume you played it properly but then it just boils down to bad luck on that one. Nice to see you being reasonably competitive with only a L2 - The Laserdon and EotG help with the power dice utilization as you noted. Plus it's nice when you roll a 4+ with the Laser
Hi, ive played Lizards for an age now seeing you played TK i think you must have terredons, the reason being they move like nothing else youve had before and continue to do so even from range of the general, my game style is alot of hit and run just always know who will charge or want to charge you and angle to flee near your slann so they can easily rally and move and shoot again great with fireleech bolas. Good luck too.
Game 17 - 2400 vs. Nurgle Demons Date: January 3, 2014 Opponent: Demons of Chaos (all Nurgle) Point Value: 2400 Scenario: Battleline Overview As crazy as this sounds, I found myself realizing that my Tomb Kings have a significantly better chance against Nurgle armies than my Lizardmen do. That's just nuts. The reason, though, is that Tomb Kings can almost totally offset the advantages of Nurgle through the use of Ramhotep and some boosted Tomb Guard. Lizardmen do no offer this fix and the game will come down to him getting bad luck, nothing more. My army: 1 Oldblood on Coldone - Glittering Scales, Dawnstone, Sword of Battle, Egg of Quango 1 L2 Beasts Skink 1 Scar-vet BSB - Carnosaur (Loping) - Armor of Destiny, Great Weapon, Shield 12 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins and Shields 12 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins and Shields 12 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins and Shields 29 Saurus - Full Command 5 Ripperdactyls 8 Kroxigore 1 Bastiladon - Solar Engine 1 Ancient Stegadon with Engine of the Gods His army and his deployment order from my left to right (sort of) : 5 Nurgle Furies 3 Beasts 20 Plaguebearers with Command 5 More Nurgle Furies 3 More Beasts 20 More Plaguebearer with Command + Epidemius Great Unclean One Nurgle Soulgrinder with claw and flamer 20 More Plaguebearers with Command Summary of Events So, yeah. His first winds of magic roll killed my Bastiladon, a unit of skinks, and some skinks from another unit. That meant that before I got to go I was down two units, and had another crippled - all because he rolled a number on a chart. From then on his stuff... Well, you know, Nurgle with Epidemius. YAAAAAAWWWWWWWNNNNNN. Pointless to continue the write up. I was dead by turn 4. Result: One of the armies was untouchable, so... Post-game Thoughts and Unit Evaluations No reason to do it. Nothing to learn. Thanks for reading!
Game 18 - 2400 vs. Ogres Date: January 3, 2014 Opponent: Ogre Kingdoms Point Value: 2400 Scenario: Battle for the Pass Overview My opponent is someone I've seen around but never played before. He's been more into 40K lately and is just making a return to Warhammer. He may not been fully up to speed with 8th yet, but he was playing Ogres, and that makes up for a lot of other things. As far as scenery, the only really notable thing was a river stretching across the table, between our forces. We set this up before we knew the scenario, as is normal. My army: 1 Oldblood on Coldone - Glittering Scales, Dawnstone, Sword of Battle, Egg of Quango 1 L2 Beasts Skink 1 Scar-vet BSB - Carnosaur (Loping) - Armor of Destiny, Great Weapon, Shield 12 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins and Shields 12 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins and Shields 12 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins and Shields 29 Saurus - Full Command 5 Ripperdactyls 8 Kroxigore 1 Bastiladon - Solar Engine 1 Ancient Stegadon with Engine of the Gods His army (sort of) : Ironblaster Ironblaster 6 Leadblechers 5 Leadbelchers 8 Bulls 10 Ironguts BSB Wizard Tyrant (I think) We pretty much just lined up and went for it. I put the toad on an ironblaster. I think he went first, but I don't know for sure. I'll summarize in general terms. It was a pretty simple battle, so it doesn't matter much. Summary of Events Early Moments - The Ironblaster with the Toad blew itself up. The other one didn't kill a monster but did kill the BSB of the back of the Carnosaur. I sent my Krox eagerly toward his lines, ready for some PF S7 goodness! Mid Turns - The Krox slammed into the flank of the Bullls and killed them on pursuit, hitting a unit of Leadblechers and then killing them next turn, but not then making it to his Irongut+Character bus as the Belchers ran. His Ironblaster retreated and kept shooting along with the other Belcher unit. My monsters pressed the advantage, used their Engines, and waited for magical support. Late Turns - I charged the Irongut+Character bus with the Krox (flank), the Stegadon, and the Saurus+Lord. He opted to flee and I caught him. The game was over, but we decided to play out the combat as if he had not fled. He wanted to see what would have happened, and I was happy to go along with it. You don't often get a scrum like that one after all! As it turns out, he should not have fled. He got Toughness and Regen on the unit. If memory serves, I still won the combat, but only by a point, and he would have stayed. He might have been dead next turn, but it was a better shot than running with 1000 points (or whatever it was). Next time he'll know to trust in the power of the best (non-Chaos Dwarf) book in Warhammer. Result: We didn't add up the points, but it was pretty convincing in favor of the Lizardmen. Post-game Thoughts and Unit Evaluations I'm definitely getting closer to where my list will settle in for a while. I will continue to say that it's a shame I've left my Trog out of the action, but oh well. At least I have not sold out and taken Salamanders and a Slann. Skink Skirmishers with Javelins and Shields I can't talk about skinks with javelins without thinking about cheesey lounge lizards in Vegas picking up tall, thin, flat hookers. Am I the only one? Better than blowpipes for how I play. Not looking back. Saurus Warriors They were part of the big (pretend) fight and kept the Oldblood safe. They won't always kick butt, and maybe I'll replace them with skink+krox units someday, but they are imposing and people seem to respect them, so for now I'll keep using them. Ripperdactyls They were sad today since their target killed itself. Still, I was glad to have them around to protect a flank. If this ogre army had been built with more typical units like Tusks, the rippers would have been more important. Bastilladon He lived. He used power dice. Meh. Ancient Stegadon His impact hits and ward save aura were both useful. I am getting the idea that I need to be more conservative with him and wait for the right moments to use him. Kroxigor Kings! Lords! Princes, all! Quite simply they won the game for me. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever will I support the use of fewer than 8 of them. Even at only WS3, they hit like a ton of bricks. PF is a useful rule, no matter what some might tell you. Saurus BSB on Carnosaur He died. His beast lived. That was a switch! Oldblood on Cold One He added a little boost to combat, but that's about it. Not a waste, but not a top performance either. Skink Shaman Yep. He cast some spells. Thanks for reading!
Game 19 - 2400 vs. High Elves Date: January 4, 2014 Opponent: High Elves Point Value: 2400 Scenario: Watchtower Overview People complain about scenario like Watchtower. Not me. I love it. Besides, there are plenty of times that it doesn't matter that you are playing this scenario. Sometimes you just kill enough that it wouldn't matter anyway. Read on for an example... My army: 1 Oldblood on Coldone - Glittering Scales, Dawnstone, Sword of Battle, Egg of Quango 1 L2 Beasts Skink 1 Scar-vet BSB - Carnosaur (Loping) - Armor of Destiny, Great Weapon, Shield 12 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins and Shields 12 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins and Shields 12 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins and Shields 29 Saurus - Full Command 5 Ripperdactyls 8 Kroxigore 1 Bastiladon - Solar Engine 1 Ancient Stegadon with Engine of the Gods His army (sort of) : Dragon Mage on Dragon with Dragon Armor General on Dragon BSB Sky Chariot Sky Chariot Bolt Thrower Bolt Thrower 30 Sea Guard 5 Reavers 5 Silver Helms (though he called them Dragon Princes, which caused me to assign the Toad to them...) About 25 White Lions I was sort of nervous, but knew that if I could distract the White Lions from going for the Tower, I'd have a shot at holding it with the Saurus. I just had to get them in there and pull the Lions away. Summary of Events Turn 1 - I used the Tower to keep his bolt throwers from shooting the BSB Carno and sent my troops around it. The Krox, two skink units, and the Rippers went right (toward his cavalry and a chariot) while the other stuff went left. Like I mentioned above, my opponent mistakenly stated that his Silver Helms were Dragon Princes, and that caused me to not only put the toad on them but also to play cautiously so that they could not charge me. I know that 5 rippers can handle a charge from 5 silver helms, but probably not 5 Dragon Princes. This resulted in some dancing that really didn't need to happen, but that's ok. His two dragons threatened my left flank, with one breathing on skinks to panic them away. A fireball at the Bastilidon did nothing. Turn 2 - The Bastiladon blew a sky chariot out of the air. Skinks on the right killed the reavers. Nothing much for him other than killing my fleeing skinks with his Big Dragon. Turn 3 - I hid the Stegadon, BSB and General from shooting by getting behind the building. The Saurus entered the building. I got the Bastiladon out of the charge arc of the Big Dragon. Skinks on my right put some wounds on the other chariot. He shot 2 rippers dead and killed some Saurus with Sea Guard shooting. Turn 4 - I declared this to be The Eff-it Turn. This meant I felt like I had the game under control but decided to go a little nuts anyway just for a hoot. I declared the Carnosaur, Old Blood, and Bastiladon to charge the White Lions. The Bastiladon (in the flank) failed, but the others made it. My rippers took up position behind the rapidly advancing Krox, well into his territory. I shot down the chariot with skinks. In combat, I took 4 wounds on the Carnosaur, but nothing else, while killing about 9 Lions. They were stubborn and stayed. During his turn he shot three Krox to death with bolt throwers, killed some Saurus with Sea Guard shots, and charged my Ancient with his Dragon Mage. I put one wound on the Dragon Mage, so we drew. The Carnosaur died, but I got the White Lions down to 10 models. He stayed. Turn 5- The krox charged and wiped out the Silver Helms. The Rippers charged and wiped out a bolt thrower. The Ancient killed the dragon rider, chased the dragon, and killed it. The White Lions were reduced to three models with my BSB and General still taking no damage. With that, my opponent conceded. Result: Win to me! Post-game Thoughts and Unit Evaluations In football, you'll pretty much never hear me say this, but in Warhammer... "Go Cowboys!" Actually, darn near every unit did well in this game. The skinks killed and distracted. The Saurus block held the objective and were resilient enough to stay there even with shooting losses. My units got charges and killed things. It was pretty much a textbook game. Felt great! Skink Skirmishers with Javelins and Shields The abilities to march, shoot without movement penalty, and benefit from Wildform on their shots all put them ahead of blowpipes for me. Of course I painted 10 blowpipe guys and have another 60 assembled and base coated, but oh well. I still have them for big games I guess. Until then, javelins it is. Saurus Warriors They did their job. They soaked up shots and held the tower. They ensured the win. Ripperdactyls While they were too timid due to the Dragon Prince/Silver Helm goof, they still took out a war machine and helped shape the flow of events. I like them. Bastiladon His laserbeam has been cool at times, and this was one of those times. He did 9 wounds to the chariot with his blast. Awesoem. The then ran interference in my backfield and gave me options. I continue to believe his point value is perfect for what his rules are. Good job, GW. ALSO go check the Gallery section of this site. I put up my photos of my completed model. Ancient Stegadon He killed a dragon! Also, his ward bubble saved me several wounds this game. Kroxigor Oh my, how they crush things. Dead knights. Dead, dead, dead. Love 'em. Saurus BSB on Carnosaur Another game, another dead Carnosaur. Even my opponent was shocked that he is so easy to kill. Even with his death, though, he did his job several turns and contributed to an important fight. Plus, the model is da bomb. Oldblood on Cold One My goodness, these cowboys are really darn important. I fear the Obsidian Blade, but not much else. In this game he stood up to several S6 attacks and never took a wound. So useful. Skink Shaman He and his unit fled from an early charge this game and never recovered. Oh well. Thanks for reading!