Battle Report continued - 2500 High Elves vs 2685 Lizardmen
We've dealt with the army lists, spells and deployment on the previous page, linked here:
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic. ... 01#p726401
Lizardmen Turn 1
Pretty simple, really. The blocks all came forward in a fairly even line, heralded by the kroxigor and salamander, the former looking to cover the temple guard and- at the same time- open access to the field for them. On my right, the stegadon held back, to cover the gap my knights would have to march through if they wanted to win the flank. The nearby skinks, along with their priest, closed in a little and moved to the outside of that flank. On the far side of the board, their fellow skirmishers ran through the trees toward my archers on the hill (the blues).
The magic phase was a lovely dud: my opponent rolled only 3 power dice, giving me 2 dispel dice. He tried, and failed, to cast chain lightning on my dragon princes.
Lizardmen Turn 1- over pretty quickly.
High Elves Turn 1
Charges. First off, the skinks on my right flank were within 18” or 19” of my chariot. And they had an expensive priest with them. I declared the charge and...failed it. Ah well, this was a one-way bet. Even if the chariot moved 6” it wouldn't block off my knights. It moved 5” and settled by the tower. My cavalry, utterly unconcerned by the skinks, marched up at speed, the silver helms covering the dragon princes from a charge by the stegadon. As for the helms themselves, they were asking for it. He could either charge me with the dino or I'd charge him (or the saurus spears) next turn. The elf heroes readied their swords and their companions prepared to take some hits.
To prevent the saurus spears from responding usefully by turning to face my knights, my newly acquired eagle (still full of hope in believing that he wouldn't be horribly killed), flew forward and blocked off the spears and the engine steg. At the same time, I angled him in such a way so as to force the stegadon to overrun uselessly into the tower if he charged next turn. The 2nd eagle sat back in reserve (no point in throwing him away at this stage) and my infantry dressed ranks slightly; the white lions covering Lecalion as he marched to within Dwellers range of the temple guard.
Seredain's knights face down the stegadon without fear, calling out the elven equivalent of “Bring it, Bitch”.
The new eagle lets the side down with his baselessness, but provides a useful service nonetheless.
This magic phase was a much more potent than the last: the winds blew strong, giving me 8 power dice to my opponent's 5 dispel dice. The Banner of Sorcery glowed with power and gave me another 3 dice (hail Mary!), and archmage Lecalion had a field day. First, Throne of Vines went up on three dice (a good roll prevented my opponent from trying to dispel with dice). Then Shield of Thorns went up on the silver helms (on two dice) and my opponent let it through. If the lizards wanted to get rid of these spells, they'd have to screw their magic phase next turn. Nice. I had 6 dice left and (unsurprisingly) chucked them all at Dwellers against the Slann. My roll didn't contain any 6's but it was pretty massive: so much so that rather than risk failing the dispel roll and losing his Slann, my opponent popped a scroll.
Kazam!
Shooting was much less interesting. My repeater and archers all drew their sights on the advancing salamander, wounded the thing 4 times and watch furiously as it made two saves. So much for my new 'archer force concentration'.
Lizardmen Turn 2
The stegadon wasn't going to let me have the run of the board, so thundered into the silver helms. Nearby, the ancient steg charged the far less threatening eagle, who was about to get a serious reality check about the orders given to them by elf princes. The saurus spears, unable to rotate on the spot due to clipping the eagle, simply shifted backwards 2” (much better to have charged the eagle and taken the free reform after combat).
In other moves, the salamander came within range of the spearelves while the nearby kroxigor did a bit of complicated double-wheeling to simultaneously advance and open up a gap for the temple guard to march toward. The skinks on my left marched at the archers while the other unit came round the outside of the dragon princes to get out of their charge arc. The feathered skink priest left this unit and hid behind a nearby hedge.
The magic phase could've been better for my opponent: he'd just cast Throne of Vines and then realised that he was
just out of range to buff the stegadon fighting my knights with Flesh to Stone. Arf. On the plus side (for him), he still had the Heavens hexes. I dispelled Curse of the Midnight Wind (a bitch of a spell), but Iceshard Blizzard went off on the helms, who'd now be hitting the steg only on a 4+.
Shooting. The skinks all shot at what was closest to them, but to little effect. My blue archers lost a single elf while the dragon princes' armour was proof against the little lizards' darts altogether. The salamander took a deep breath and roasted 4 spearelves, but even this wasn't too bad. He strayed pretty close to get this shot and I'd have a charge on against him next turn.
Combat saw the stegadon stamp, bite and headbutt its way into my silver helms, smashing 4 to the ground. By the end of the phase it was a pretty ragged dino, though, although Ulthuan's finest weren't quite able to bring it down (the damn iceshard blizzard encouraging me to roll terribly to hit). The beast went down to 2 wounds and won combat by 1 but, unsurprisingly, couldn't break my cavalry. They reformed to stand 3x2, opening up a flank charge for the chariot and dragon princes. I wasn't going to take any chances! Elsewhere, the eagle was quickly made to look like one of those pigeons that's just been run over by a car.
The stegadon hits home like a freight train, but a combination of elven discipline and martial prowess sees the silver helms stick it out.
High Elves Turn 2
Having held the stegadon in place with my helms, it was time to finish it off. The dragon princes slammed into its flank on one side and, on the other, the chariot was just able to squeeze through the gap between the helms and the tower to hit the other. Elsewhere, the spears charged the lone salamander, looking to kill it and reform to face the kroxigor. To act as the flank hammer to this anvil (or to receive the charge themselves if necessary), the white lions moved towards the kroxigor. My other infantry units held their ground: the saurus infantry was still too far away to press them into activity.
Seredain and his knights prepare to enact 'Operation Minor Extinction Event'
The magic phase gave me 6 power dice after Sorcery. I just threw them at another Dwellers cast, which went through and... failed to kill the Slann. A rank of temple guard were dragged to their deaths, though. Shooting saw my archers kill half the nearby skinks, who panicked and fled. My other archers, and the repeater, failed to do much to the kroxigor, though, only inflicting a single wound on one of them after my opponent rolled a bunch of 6's for armour saves.
The Slann and his 'hat of vines' survives Lecalion's onslaught, but several members of his guard are not so lucky.
A thudding volley of arrows sees off the skinks.
In combat, Seredain cleaved the stegadon apart even before I rolled for my other troops. The chariot took the overrun past the front arc of the saurus spears while the cavalry all reformed to face their flank. The saurus had no charge on against me next turn, so things were looking good on this flank. On the far side of the table, the elven spears tore through the salamander and, thrilled by their success, decided to overrun past the kroxigor (just). In the end, I'd rather hold the krox with lions than spears. I took the risk, took the move and just made it: I now had a fully-ranked infantry unit around the Lizardman flank on only Turn 2. Excellent.
The spearelves break through the salamander and gain the left flank.
Lizardmen Turn 3
The kroxigor couldn't stand around getting shot, so they declared a charge on the white lions, who were eagerly waiting. It was a pretty long charge, though, and the krox failed it, shuffling forward 3”. Nearby, the skinks kept fleeing away from my hilltop archers and towards the wood.
My opponent's real concern was with my knights and cavalry characters, however. The way he saw it, the moment I got them round the back of his army, I'd be able to sandwich his lizards between them and my infantry, and all would be lost. Rather than let that happen, he dedicated as much force as he could to destroying my flank attack. The saurus spears reformed to face the flank of the chariot, then, and the ancient stegadon marched as close to my knights as it could, in preparation for Burning Alignment and chain lightning. My opponent made his intentions clear at this point (if they weren't already): there was nothing I could do other than pray he didn't get many power dice during the magic phase. The temple guard took a free reform and moved toward my knights too, to bring the Slann within buff range of the big dino and closer to being able to put wounds back on it. The hand weapon saurus kept on trucking, however, moving up to support the kroxigor and close more with my swordmasters (who were still stood well back).
Charges sub-phase: the kroxigor can't find their target.
The Lizardmen move to shut down the elven cavalry with magic, missiles and muscle.
The magic phase was a disastrous 12 dice! Arrrgh! I made a slight wimpering noise, my opponent grinned broadly, and then he started chucking dice. Before I remembered to dispel Throne of Vines on one dice (my opponent would probably expend more casting it again), chain lightning and the engine's burning alignment ravaged my right wing. Only 2 silver helms were fried (the characters' armour saved them from some randomised hits of the lighting while the engine totally failed), but the dragon princes were ravaged (4 of 5 died) and the chariot was brought down to 1 wound. The Slann then threw Throne of Vines back up before casting
Flesh to Stone on the ancient stegadon. I wasn't about to let that happen, however, and scrolled it. I then had enough dice to block Curse of the Midnight Wind from hexing the silver helms. I was damaged, then, but my characters were alive and the engine was vulnerable- its flank exposed to Seredain's unit. If I could kill it quickly, everything would be fine...
Shooting followed magic nicely for my opponent: the skinks pinged the last wound off the chariot and took it off the board. My attacking wing was now looking pretty ragged!
The skink priest's chain lightning brings the pain.
High Elves Turn 3
My silver helms let out a thunderous battle cry and charged the ancient stegadon in the flank. The white lions charged the kroxigor, axes swinging. The spearelves wheeled round and marched behind the kroxigor to stare the scar-vet saurus warriors in the flank. As for the one remaining dragon prince, there was no point throwing him into the steg too since, if I didn't kill it, he'd only offer a flank charge to the saurus spears. He marched behind the tower, took cover there and awaited the chance to help my infantry fight the scar-vet saurus. The eagle also though he'd use the tower as a prop. My opponent and I were both aware that beasts can't occupy buildings, but saw no reason why the eagle couldn't use the tower as a perch. He flew up there and faced down toward the skinks and the lone skink priest.
The magic phase was a total fail. I rolled snake eyes! The Banner of Sorcery gave me an extra dice, which didn't change much, so I contented myself with dispelling the Slann's throne of vines. In the shooting phase, my poor form continued and I literally only killed 1 saurus warrior. Ugh.
Combat started much better: the white lions absolutely cleaved the kroxigor into chunks. Hitting on 3's, re-rolling misses, wounding on 2's no armour save. Not surprsingly, devastation ensued and there was only 1 kroxigor was left standing of the original 4. He killed a couple of lions but couldn't stand and fled through the spearelves. My lions tried to restrain themselves (I wanted to reform to face the saurus warriors so as to cover my archmage and archers), but they failed their test and pursued- ending up an inch short of their target (damn).
The white lions crash through the kroxigor but can't quite finish the job.
A mistake here. Fleeing units can move through enemy units (and take dangerous terrain tests), but pursuing units cannot follow them: the white lions should've stopped 1" before hitting the spearelves (this would've been better for me, too!).
All eyes now turned to the showdown between my knights and the ancient stegadon. Seredain popped the Talisman of Loec and cleaved the dinosaur, inflicting 4 wounds. Caradath swung his greatsword and finished the job and, within a matter of moments, the beast had come crashing down. My silver helms finished the priest with ease and I reformed the unit to bring both saurus spears and temple guard (still far away but better safe than sorry) into their front arc. This was marvellous. If the saurus spears wanted to charge my knights, they could go ahead. With me throwing down 7 Str6/7 attacks, hitting on 3's with ASF, wounding on 2's, allowing no armour saves and with Shield of Thorns in support, they weren't going to win that one.
The saurus can only watch as Seredain and his standard bearer destroy the ancient stegadon
End of High Elf Turn 3.
Lizardmen Turn 4
The saurus spears, having witnessed what the elf heroes had just done to their mightiest beast, decided that charging in for a taste of the same was a bad idea. Instead, they contented themselves with moving up to the tower to prevent my cavalry from moving to sandwich the temple guard in conjunction with the spearelves and white lions. With their rear secured for the next turn, the temple guard turned to face the elf infantry so the Slann could throw terrible magicks their way and, of course, to stave off the rear-charge I had on.
The scar-vet saurus had a difficult choice to make. If they hung around forever, I'd pick away at them with my missiles and I'd just have more time to surround them. Another march move, however, would only leave them exposed to a combo-charge from my spears and swordmasters. The archers were vulnerable, however, and expensive, too. I hadn't planned for the white lions failing to reform and, now, my archmage was staring down at a saurus block with a 6-attack Str5 hero in it. If combat happened, my archers wouldn't stand a chance. I'd kept my distance, mind, and my opponent needed to roll 9” to make the charge. He didn't, and the saurus moved forward about 5”. For me, the set-up was now perfect.
The skink priest, afraid of the eagle, flew toward the centre of the field, hidden (annoyingly) from my repeater by the big pink Slann. His fellow skinks ignored the bird, though, and closed in to finish the last dragon prince. On the far side of the board, the other skinks just kept running.
In the magic phase, I let Throne of Vines and Regrowth go up on the temple guard, but I dispelled Stone on the saurus warriors. Magic wasn't going to save them!
The shooting phase wasn't game-changing, either: the skinks couldn't kill the last dragon prince.
High Elves Turn 4
The bladelord drank his potion and the swordmasters and spearelves then smashed into opposite flanks of the saurus warriors while the remaining dragon prince hit the rear. Short of a miracle, those lizards were in trouble. The eagle swooped down from the tower at the nearby skink skirmishers, who fled but were caught nonetheless. The white lions charged the last kroxigor and prepared to finish him off. The silver helms, who wanted to close in on the temple guard rather than hack their way through 25 saurus warriors, took a swift reform and moved around the base of the tower to stand where the dragon prince had just been. They'd have a charge on against the temple guard next turn and were now covered from the spears looking to stop them.
The magic phase gave me 9 power dice after the Banner, against my opponent's 5 dispel dice. I threw up a Shield of Thorns on the spearelves on 3 dice (which my opponent let through), and then chucked 6 dice at Dwellers against the temple guard. A bunch were killed but the Slann, once again, survived. Ugh. Shooting compounded the damage to this unit and, by the end of the phase, only 4 temple guard were left standing.
Thud thud thud!
Combat went as it should: my elites provided the kills, my spears provided the ranks and I absolutely crushed the saurus warriors. My bladelord's challenge saw him brutally smashed by the scar-veteran (I had him rolling two 4+ saves to stay alive and he made one of them), but this couldn't turn the tide. The saurus needed double 1's, broke and were run down by my last dragon prince. The spears and swordmaster reformed to face the temple guard. Beyond them, the white lions had completely fluffed their attacks against the krox, who'd done likewise and allowed them to win the combat by 2. The lizard broke and they finally were able to run him down, although they found themselves in the middle of a swamp for their trouble.
The saurus scar-veteran wins the battle, but he's about to lose the war...
...as the saurus are completely wiped out.
By this point, I'd pretty much torn my opponent's army to pieces. His saurus spears were now in totally the wrong place to protect the temple guard, who were very few in number and surrounded by my whole army. Seeing that things had become pretty hopeless, my opponent decided to spare his Slann the ignominy of being cut to pieces, and conceded.
Victory to the High Elves!