Haha, am I late?
Battle Report - High Elves vs Lizardmen
So, I played an important game on Saturday against Lizardmen. I say important because this army is looking like my chief opponent in the upcoming campaign (latest entries, further to the ones I've described above, include a Brettonian army and another High Elf player fielding, I am told, 50 Seaguard with a Banner of the World Dragon BSB). I'll make a note of the lessons learned after the report.
The Lists
High Elves
-Seredain-
Prince - Barded Steed, Dragon Armour, Shield,
Giant Blade,
Helm of Fortune,
Plucker Pendant,
Talisman of Loec - 286
-Lecalion-
Lvl 4 Archmage - Lore of Life, Dispel Scroll - 280
-Caradath-
Battle Standard Bearer - Barded Steed, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour, Shield, Dragonhelm, Dawnstone, Amulet of Light - 190
35 Spearelves- Full Command, Gleaming Pennant - 345
13 Archers, Musician - 148 (Archmage here)
12 Archers - 132
14 Swordmasters- Bladelord - 222
12 White Lions- Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame - 220
8 Silver Helms- Musician, Shields - 192 (Prince and BSB here)
5 Dragon Princes - 150
1 Tiranoc Chariot - 85
2 Repeater Bolt Throwers - 200
1 Eagle - 50
Lizardmen
Slann - Becalming Cognition, Knows all spells, Focus (free power dice with each spell cast), Lore of Life
Skink Priest - Lvl 2, Engine of the Gods, Lore of Heavens
Scar Veteran - Sword of Strife, Enchanted Shield, Ironcurse Icon
23 Saurus Spears - Full Command (BSB here, 6x4)
18 Saurus, Hand Weapons+Shields - Full Command
10 Skink skirmishers - Blowpipes
10 Skink skirmishers - Blowpipes
10 Skink skirmishers - Blowpipes
16 Temple Guard - Full Command
Skink Cohort - 2 Kroxigors
4 Terradons
Salamander x 1
Salamander x 1
8 Chameleon Skinks
Deployment and The Plan
I haven't made any more maps (I don't know how to use that battle chronicler program and Paint takes ages), but I've indicated with arrows the general movement my attacking units end up making. Apologies again for the lack of pictures (with fully painted armies and great terrain the board looked brilliant): I'll get my sh*t together soon and charge the camera for next time.
A word on the house rules we set. Since we had an 8' by 4' table, we decided to use the whole length of it but decided that our armies weren't allowed to deploy closer than 12" to either side. This way we had the full deployment width of a normal 6' by 4' board but without the artificial break in the models' world which allows cheesy castling.
Lizardman lost the roll-off to decide who deploys first, so I made him start (he had 11 drops, I had 10, so I'd still get the +1 for the first turn). It was clear from the off that the Slann was going to be deployed in the centre of his infantry line, so the only question was over where he was going to put his big spear block. He deployed them left and, actually, fairly early on, so that gave me plenty of time to set-up a weighted right flank with my elites and cavalry, anchored by the spearelves. The presence of a salamander on my right flank led me to place my dragon princes there too so I could quickly run down the lizard before it started burning away my silver helms. This meant that I was dominant on the right but, on my left, the 12 archers and the repeaters up on the hill were left exposed to a whole array of terradons, skinks and saurus infantry.
The battle would be decided over whether I could smash the Lizardmen's left flank and crush their centre before the Slann pulled my army apart and the powerful saurus spears entered the fray with their Veteran leader. Prince Seredain and his knights would focus on running down the hand-weapon saurus before he chopped into the stegadon. The Helms and Dragon Princes would then, together, surround and charge the Slann's Temple Guard with Caradath and (if he was done) the prince, while I engaged them to the front with the swordmasters or white lions. The spears would hold the swordmasters' left flank for as long as possible while the rest of my army went to work.
My High Elves won the roll for the first turn.
Spells
Lecalion rolled Dwellers Below, Awakening, Shield of Thorns and Throne of Vines (the latter thanks to a double 1).
The Slann got all the Life spells and the skink priest got Iceshard Blizzard and (annoyingly), Chain Lightning.
So, he had the big damage spells from both his lores and I had no way of toughening or repairing my troops. My Prince would have to move quickly.
High Elf Turn 1
The elven cavalry took the initiative and surged into the plain on the right flank- dragon princes at the front and on the outside with the silver helms further back and to their left, keeping a little back from the salamander opposite. The princes were close already and would be within easy reach of the beast next turn. The white lions marched up to the wood, angling left to cover any advance from the HW saurus and the skink/krox cohort. The swordmasters stood their ground to ensure there was more than 6" between them and the lions. This way chain lightning couldn't ravage both my elite units in the same turn. The eagle moved up in front of the lions, ready for a Turn 2 charge on the engine to slow it down and, hopefully, prevent the priest ravaging my lines with lightning.
Magic Started well with an irresistible casting of Throne of Vines but, after that, the Lizards easily had enough dispel dice to deal with my remaining casts. With throne up, however, the Slann would either have to expend power dice dispelling it in his magic phase or allow Lecalion a bonanza of aggressive casting on Turn 2.
The left-hand archers focused on the hard-to-hit chameleons and picked off 4 of them, to much mutual congratulation, but the little creatures passed their panic test. Lecalion's archers pinged off a few skinks from the cohort and the repeaters, on good form to hit the central salamander with 5 bolts, only wounded two handlers, with one wound on the salamander itself.
Lizardman Turn 1
Advances all across the board. The terradons, who had dived behind the wood with their vanguard move, flew into the open on my left flank. Both skink units on my left marched forward, alongside the saurus spears and then the temple guard. The hand-weapon saurus moved at a slightly slower pace and angled slighty to allow the ancient stegadon to rumble between them and the temple guard. Both salamanders moved up and the chameleons closed on the archers in readiness for a volley.
My opponent rolled a generous 10 power dice for the magic phase but, fortunately, was too far away to Dwellers any of my units. Less fortunately, he had plenty to put buffs up on his spears and temple guard (he was afraid of my repeaters). First, though, he established Throne of Vines on the Slann. Lecalion leapt into action and failed his first effort to dispel on three dice. Even after all the buffs, what with the Slann's annoying +1 power dice to all casts, the skink priest still had plenty of dice to chuck into Chain Lightening, but it only fried a paltry one white lion.
Lizardman shooting saw the central salamander flame and wound the eagle (damn). The flank salamander had a punt at burning the dragon princes, but he overshot. So, he blinked nervously and waited for all those lances to smash into his face...
High Elf Turn 2
...only they didn't. Instead, the princes' horses had some kind of aneurysm and stumbled forward a paltry 2". So, my princes would now be at least a turn late for their rendezvous with the temple guard and my silver helms were left exposed to the alive (and gleeful) salamander. Seredain and his helms weren't going to be held back any longer, however- the army needed them to get into combat- so caution was thrown to the wind and they marched up to within charge-distance of the HW saurus' flank, just outside the range of the sinister statue. The rest of my army stayed put and awaited the Lizardman advance excepting the chariot, which moved alongside the white lions, and the eagle, which I'd charged into the stegadon having completely forgotten that he'd already suffered a wound and now had absolutely no chance of staying alive long enough to do anything useful.
Magic was pretty underpowered (6 dice to me, 4 to my opponent), so to get a good result out of it I chucked all 6 at a long-range Dwellers against the only suitable target in range- the cohort. Things went nicely to plan, the ground erupted and most of the skinks and one kroxigor were dragged down. Excellent. Except things hadn't actually gone that well and Lecalion had rolled a 1 on his Throne of Vines anti-miscast roll. Ugh. A few seconds later and he'd forgotton Dwellers, lost a level and had 4 dead archers scattered about him. Further the archmage wasn't able to cast any other spells that turn, so he contented himself by dispelling the Slann's Throne.
Shooting. The left-hand archers brought down a terradon and Lecalion's archers had a crack at the central salamander but couldn't wound it with the arrows that hit home- two 5's and a 6 were rolled for its armour save (ugh). The repeaters targeted the distant salamander in an attempt to protect the helms, but four hits only resulted in two dead handlers.
Lizardman Turn 2
The Lizardman commander was starting to realise now that my prince was going to be bad business for his steg (which had found himself on the sharp end of the Giant Blade before). More than that, however, he was worried about what my repeaters would do to his spears as they marched past the bane stone. So, as the lizard infantry advanced (temple guard up to the fence, saurus spears around the bane stone), the stegadon swung round and marched between the temple guard and the spears in order to throw its shield up over these valuable units (5+ ward against missiles). What he apparently hadn't realised, however, was that my silver helm tank was set to do a number on his HW saurus - the only thing now blocking my knights from the centre of his force. These saurus simply pivoted to face the threat and hoped for the best. The skink cohort, melting fast, thundered forward to try and hold up my units there until the temple guard and spears could close in. Meanwhile, on my left, all the skinks and terradons swarmed forward at full pace, meaning to overwhelm my archers, take out my machines and then get to work eroding my spear block on the far side of the hill. The good news was that the terradons couldn't simply race in and drop rocks, since I'd deployed in such a way with the archers, repeaters and spears that they had nowhere to land. They'd have to wait until the skinks cleared away my archers.
Shooting, and a worrying time for me. The chameleons let fly and brought down 3 of the left-hand archers, who stoically passed their panic test. But it was all about the salamander facing my knights. He spat out, hit both characters and 3 helms and... nothing. Fate was on my side with failed wounds on two helms and a successful armour save on the third, while the characters shrugged off the fire with ease and breathed a sigh of relief for their companions.
Magic was about as uneventful as possible. Not many power dice were rolled and the Slann tried to get Throne of Vines up again but failed to cast. Ahahahahaha! The skink priest was able to muster up the power to get chain lightning off, but Lecalion had recovered enough focus by then to sweep it away.
High Elf Turn 3
Elven war horns blared across the field as the greater part of the army thundered into combat. The silver helms charged the waiting HW saurus and the dragon princes charged their salamander. The swordmasters, chariot and white lions (in the flank), all charged the lizard cohort. The swordmaster charge failed so they only ran forward 4", but the lions and chariot both smashed home and, by aligning on the flank, the lions also hit the skink skirmishers stood directly behind the cohort. On the far left, the archers had decided to force the issue and charged the chameleons who fled, were caught and, brilliantly, caused the terradons to flee in panic.
Magic, and there was nothing doing. Shield of Thorns was dispelled and Awakening wasn't in range of anything.
Shooting. Both of the repeaters attempted a volley on the stegadon but the combination of armour and ward saves prevented more than a wound going on the dinosaur, while the priest made both his armour saves on a 4+.
In combat the dragon princes managed a poor collection of wounds (I rolled three 1's and a 2... ugh) and lost a knight, but still managed to run down their salamander. The real action, however, was taking place to their left. The silver helm tank crashed into the waiting saurus and made a magnificant number of hits before Fate turned against the elves and, despite making three wounds, Prince Seredain found his Giant Blade miraculously fended off by the saurus, who all parried on 6's (ugh). Despite this, 8 saurus were killed and their comrades managed only 4 wounds in reply... before the elf knights failed all four armour saves on a 3+ and crashed to the ground (UGH). The charge had done just enough, however. A full rank of knights (+1) stood against only one rank of Saurus and, with the impetus of the charge and Caradath's banner lending them strength, the elves broke the saurus and rode them down. The pursuit took them toward the centre of the board at a slight angle but, nonetheless, well within view of both the central salamander, now fleeing in panic and, critically, the flank of the temple guard.
The chariot and lions had a much easier time of it and together devastated the skink/krox cohort, pursuing it (since my ranks were in the flank), toward the centre of the board, tearing it apart but failing to catch the remaining four skink skirmishers. This was fine with the elves, however, since the skinks now stood directly infront of the temple guard, blocking their path and, since they were so close, even a reform move. They wouldn't block, however, a combined charge from the white lions and chariot into the temple guard next turn- instead providing a useful stepping stone. Further with Seredain, Caradath and the remaining silver helms set to crash through the salamander and into the temple guard's flank next turn, the Lizardmen were beginning to look like they were in very dire straits...