Salamander Fever
Well guys, I've played my second round of my campaign, and let me just say, the results weren't so hot. My game was versus the Lizardman player, and my ability this turn was "All or Nothing" - if I didn't win, I'd get 0 empire points this turn, in addition to being "fool's golded" so that I get no gold either.
Here is my opponent's list:
Slann Mage Priest - Cupped Hands, Focus of Mystery, Becalming Cogitation, Focus of Rumination, 4+ ward save
Skink Priest - Ancient Stegadon w/ Engine of the Gods
20 Temple Guard - Full command, Sun Standard of Chotec
42 Saurus Warriors - Full Command
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers
3 x Salamanders
3 x Razordons
6 x Chameleon Skinks
He took the lore of light, and the skink priest took the default heavens spell.
I took my usual lores, and got Miasma, Withering, Pendulum, Pit and Mindrazor on my Archmage and Shield, Curse of Arrow Attraction and Drain Magic on my level 2
Deployment
Deployment was the start of my salamander fever. If you've read my last game versus the lizardmen, I got punished pretty hard by these guys, so I really wanted to deal with them quickly. I had two units of Dragon Princes which were well suited for the task, so they went in the flank with the two shooting units, and the bulk of my force went just right of his primary blocks.
Turn 1
Lizardmen
He rolled first turn, and generally advanced forward. He forgot to move his chameleon skinks, since apparently their camouflage is *too* good.
Magic was 8v7 for the first turn of the game. He starts off with a Net of Amyntok on my spearmen. I let this go, since I don't plan on doing much with them this turn anyway. I then dispel banishmen, then let a shem's burning gaze go. He puts it on the eagle, and does 2 wounds to it. He puts pha's protection on the salamanders, then speed of light miscasts on his Saurus Warriors. My Archmage is blocked from line of sight by a big tree, so he simply ignores the miscast.
High Elves
I spend a huge amount of time on this turn. The salamander fever is setting in. I position my units carefully to afford those little bastards no quarter. The hill on the right flank is really high, so his razordons are able to hide behind it, depriving me of the charge.
Magic is 7 v 4, and I start off with a shield of saphery on my unit of swordmasters with the highest chance of getting blasted by the salamanders. Through my fever hazed eyes, I cast a miasma on the salamanders to reduce their initiative, then a pit of shades. Both go off, and of course the pit scatters off them. My fever deepens.
I manage to shoot only one chameleon skink, and we move on to his turn.
Turn 2
Lizardmen
Naturally, the salamanders skirmish their way into an advantageous position regardless, albeit a pretty long shot. His army starts to hook around on the left flank.
Magic is only 3 v 2 this turn. He tries to put a net on the archers, which I dispel. I wanted the archers to at least take out one of those two skirmisher units. In retrospect, this was a poor choice. He then banished my archers to kill 6 of them anyway, and then put speed of light on the saurus once again.
His skink shooting kills all but one of my poor archers, who passes his panic test. The salamanders roll their shots - 10, 10 and misfire. This lands two templates square in my unit, and 40 shots later I'm looking at 21 spearmen dead. Beads of sweat appear on my brow, and I stop speaking coherently. I manage to, through a series of hand gestures, request another beer. They panic, naturally.
High Elves
In an attempt to break my fever, I try to box the salamanders in with my great eagles, as well as tie up the center of his line. He only has two units, so I don't see the eagles being critical for redirecting charges, so in they go. I charge the razordons with my Dragon Princes, who take 0 hits from his 2 artillery dice each razordon stand and shoot - they misfired 4 times between them. My swordmasters charge the skinks in front of them. My archmage leaves his unit to avoid being becalmed by the slann. The lone archer charges the chameleon skinks. Thankfully, my spearmen manage to rally.
Magic is 9 v 4. I start with a withering on his saurus warriors, which he dispels. I then do the miasma/pit combo on the salamanders, and once again scatter off for no effect. Did I mention I miscast? Small round template fails to wound the archmage, and he's off on his own, so nobody else suffers his recklessness.
In combat, the lone archer takes out a skink, but naturally they issue him two poisoned hits back. The Dragon Princes smash through the razordons, and the swordmasters through the skinks. I opt to overrun, hoping for a low-ish roll to box in the salamander. At this point I am hallucinating, the fever is so thick.
Turn 3
Lizardmen
The salamanders, with few options available for movement, charge the great eagle closest to them. The temple guard charge the same eagle, and the rest of his big block turns to face incoming possible charges.
Magic is 8 v 7, and some careless positioning on my part put the archmage within 24" of his slann. He casts Banishment, which I dispel, and Shem's which I also dispel. He then miscasts on a speed of light aura and drains the rest of his pool.
He manages to shoot some more of my spearmen, leaving me with 10 and my Noble, but they hold on their panic test.
The salamanders and temple guard manage to kill the eagle, and both opt to hold instead of overrun.
High Elves
So my apologies about this picture. A lot happens this turn, and I couldn't get the pictures to exactly represent things here. A lot came down to mere millimeters.
I issue the following charges - The swordmasters that just finished killing the skinks on his unit of saurus, the Phoenix Guard on his salamanders, the great eagle on his salamanders to get him out of the way, and the swordmasters on his salamanders to later threaten the temple guard. Finally, the spearmen with the noble charge the stegadon.
My plan was to run the combat with the salamanders first, and blast them, then overrun into the second combat with the Saurus Warriors to help the swordmasters. More on this later.
Magic is 12 v 5, and I throw 6 dice at mindrazor on the phoenix guard. My plan was to wither the saurus warriors after, to have both the swordmasters and phoenix guard wounding on 2's, but I miscast for the second time this game on the mindrazor. Phoenix guard are S9, but magical feedback puts a wound on both of my wizards and drains the rest of my pool.
In combat, the noble manages to put a wound on the skink priest, and the spearmen bounce off their armour. The stegadon kills the noble in return, but the unit still wins combat. He holds. Darn.
The S9 phoenix guard rip through the salamanders, breaking my fever. I emerge from the grips of delerium to see my error. Because I placed the eagle on the far left during the charge, only he is able to overrun into the saurus. The Phoenix Guard would clip the edge of the swordmasters first, rendering my plan useless. Instead, I reform to face the approaching Temple Guard, and hope for the best with my swordmasters.
With speed of light on the Saurus Warriors, not only was I down my rerolls, but also with 4's to hit. Despite this, the swordmasters manage 9 wounds on the ugly blue lizards. His high weaponskill, however, allows him to put 9 wounds back on the swordmasters, and despite the flank bonus from the eagle, they still lose combat. The swordmasters break, and he pursues right in to my next unit of swordmasters. Yikes.
Turn 4
Lizardmen
The Temple Guard declare a charge on the nearby fleeing eagle. They didn't want to face the mindrazored Phoenix Guard apparently. The eagle rolls low and his charge is successful. He charges out of line of sight of the phoenix guard.
I also correct a small mistake from last turn. The chameleon skinks took some bowfire and panicked. This turn, they actually rally where they are, with the charge bringing the slann into range to confer his bonuses.
Magic is 5 v 4 - He casts shem's burning gaze to capitalize on me forgetting to move my archmage. I then point out to him that it's a magic missile, and that he needs line of sight. The spell is wasted
He goes for another speed of light, but I manage to dispel it. He then rolls very high for a Timewarp on his saurus warriors. Crap.
Combat goes pretty much as I expect it. I lose my rerolls again due to him now having ASF as well. I put another 8 wounds on the unit, and he takes out 7 of the swordmasters. The remaining swordmasters fail their -4 break test and he overruns into the Dragon Princes.
High Elves
The phoenix guard see the ancient stegadon hanging out there unguarded, and issue a charge. He rolls a huge 11" for his flee distance... and the Phoenix Guard roll boxcars. They match his distance, and manage to catch him! The archmage moves into the nearby unit of archers.
Magic is 9 v 5 - I throw 6 dice again at mindrazor on the Dragon Princes. What do you know? Miscast # 3. This one rolls a 7 and pops three archers in the unit he just joined, making him very popular among his new unit.
The Dragon Princes, due to good rolls and mindrazored steeds, manage to kill 7 Saurus Warriors, and they kill 3 in return. The princes hold.
Turn 5
Lizardmen
At this point the game turns into a game of cat and mouse. He knows he's won if he can just hold on to his remaining units. He puts all of his shooting on the archers killing 6 of them. He puts another timewarp on his saurus, then miscasts a speed of light. This drains his pool and kills half his unit of temple guard.
Needless to say, the saurus wreck the remaining dragon princes, and turn to face the final incoming unit.
High Elves
My notes get a bit sketchy here, because I was getting pretty in to the game
Instead of charging the supersauruses, which would have been a fool's errand, I move around their flank, and position myself to threaten either them, or the temple guard.
In magic, I cast a powered up miasma with three dice on his temple guard, in an attempt to hold them in place - and of course, miscast again. #4 for those keeping count. The temple guard receive -2 to their stats and my archmage rolls magical feedback again. This kills the level 2, and leaves him with 1 wound left. It also drains the remaining pool. Can I catch a break here?
Turn 6
Lizardmen
His temple guard scoot as far forward as their miasma'd legs will take them, and the remaining chameleon skinks move to divert the phoenix guard. His remaining saurus warriors reform, and block the dragon princes from charging the temple guard.
For magic, he rolls 3, which I steal 1 for 2 v 3. I also manage to channel, making the total 2 v 4. Now we're talking! He puts it all into a banishment, which I dispel easily.
His shooting kills all but 3 archers, and they pass their panic test.
High Elves
So many things to do, so few turns.
I charge his unit of saurus with the dragon princes, and the flank of the same unit with the archers. Here goes the desperate gambit!
In magic, I manage to cast a withering on his saurus with, you guessed it, irresistable force. This one, of course, kills my archmage. I do, however, manage to reduce the saurus' toughness by 3.
This allows me to do enough wounds to miraculously break them in combat. I pursue with both, and catch them.
My phoenix guard obviously take the chameleon skinks, and that's the game!
End result:
Major Loss for the High Elves
Final Thoughts:
Wow. 5 miscasts. One each turn but the first. I'm actually a bit suprised my idiotic archmage managed to last as long as he did...
That aside, I'm disappointed at my positioning in the center during that crucial turn. No doubt that cost me the game right there.
So what I'd like to do is pose you all some questions in light of this round - I'm now without points, cash and the ability to generate cash this round. I'll also lose my biggest empire bonus against most, so I'm in a tough spot.
1. It was clear that my opponent wrote this list specifically to combat high elves. Mine is an all comers list. Do you think I should stick to my guns by using the same list, or fight fire with fire and start writing mine to combat my opponents?
2. How do you normally combat salamanders? These guys always seem to find a way to get out of my line of sight and blast me, despite my best efforts at positioning my units.
3. Do you think a different lore (on either the level 2 or level 4) would have more success with this list? Miscasts really do seem to be plagueing me and limiting my phases.
And of course, any other input would be more than welcome. I expect you guys to thrash me on this one, because I feel that this was one of my worst played games in a long time.
Having said all of that, the list didn't do *too* badly against an opponent who was gunning for me. If you take away all those miscasts, which were responsible for killing both of my mages, this match was a draw - he won by about 450 points, and my mages cost a combined 490 points.
Thanks for reading!