Clearing the Jungle
So before the commencement of our next (and hopefully longer!) Mighty Empires campaign, I managed to talk the Lizardman player who handed me my loss in the last campaign to a re-match.
My list is unchanged from the one listed at the beginning of this thread.
Lizardmen:
Slann Mage Priest - Cupped Hands, Focus of Mystery, Becalming Cogitation, Focus of Rumination, 4+ ward save
Skink Chieftain - Ancient Stegadon, Stegadon Warspear
Skink Priest - Dispel Scroll
20 x Temple Guard - Full command, Sun Standard of Chotec
42 x Saurus Warriors - Full Command
10 x Skink Skirmishers, Blowpipes
10 x Skink Skirmishers, Blowpipes
5 x Cold One Riders, Standard, Musician, Huanchi's Blessed Totem
3 x Salamanders
6 x Chameleon Skinks
His spells:
Skink Priest: Iceshard Blizzard
Slann: All spells from lore of Light
My spells:
Archmage: Earthblood, Awakening, Flesh, Throne, Regrowth ... no dwellers, darn!
Mage: Pha's Protection, Shem's Burning Gaze
Deployment
My goal was simple going in to this match: Don't let the salamanders dictate my movement (even though they still scare the &^$^ out of me), and take that Slann out hard and fast. Easier said than done, I know, but I truly believe it to be the key to taking down a LM army, since so many points are concentrated in that one unit.
My two units of archers went down first, as I wanted to be sure to have my eagles in good spots to keep his big block under control while I took on his Temple Guard. After this, the two eagles went down as he dropped his two big blocks, and finally I put down the DP and swordmasters on the far flank to deal with the cold ones/stegadon, as well as matching up my White Lions versus the Temple Guard, intending to take full advantage of the fact that their S6 fully mitigates his armour and Toughness.
His Chameleon skinks deploy on my left flank, with the intent to pose problems for my vulnerable eagle and chariot.
He gets first turn, and we begin!
Turn 1
Lizardmen
A modest advance by his main combat blocks, with his east-most unit of skinks running into the woods to take full advantage of being stubborn in them.
Funny story here - he's painted his chameleon skinks a shade of green that is almost identical to our mat. Since they're actually camouflaged, he forgets to move them
His winds are low, with a 3 v 4. He starts with a shem's burning gaze on my chariot, which I allow. D6 S4 hits aren't enough to worry me, as I can put wounds back on it from lifebloom; my primary concern is banishment. It puts one wound on my chariot when it is resolved. He follows it up with Pha's Protection on his salamanders, which I allow. Finally, he attempts a banishment, which I intended to dispel, but he fails to meet the casting value. I use my remaining dispel dice to build a small tower.
His skink shooting kills one of my swordmasters, and we move on to my turn.
High Elves
There's time for subtlety, but I decide that now is not it. An aggressive move forward for most of my infantry, daring a charge on the lions from the Temple Guard. Instead of charging the swordmasters at the skinks, and them fleeing to safety, I move the elites up to within an inch of the jungle dwellers. My right flank moves up, but leaves a healthy 15" in between them and the imposing looking unit of cold ones.
My magic phase is 5 v 4, with him succeeding at one channel, and me rolling a 1 for my winds. He puts becalming cogitation on my Archmage, so I start by throwing 4 dice at a powered up Pha's Protection, and he fails to dispel it. The Mage puts his protective aura around a sizeable chunk of my army, and I throw my final dice at Awakening on the salamanders. It succeeds, but fails to wound. It does, however, heal the wound on the Lion Chariot.
My shooting manages to take out a chameleon skink, and we move on to his turn.
Turn 2
Lizardmen
He declares a charge with his unit of cold ones on my swordmasters. I had measured out a very improbable charge, so I hold. Improbable, that is, until he reveals the blessed totem, which allows him to add D6" to his charge range. Naturally, he makes it in. ohboy.
He shuffles his skinks over to attempt to block both the swordmasters and the white lions from charging anything important, and rolls in his left flank to take out my chariot.
Magic is 8 v 7. He starts off with an iceshard blizzard on my larger unit of archers. I let this one go. He then casts shem's burning gaze again on the chariot, which I once again allow. It causes two wounds. He follows this up with a powered up speed of light with 5 dice, but rolls low. I take my chances with 5 of my own, and pull it off. Finally, he throws the rest at banishment, which I also manage to dispel.
His salamanders prepare to unleash their fiery fury, but stand in awe of Pha's protective power! Not a single one passes their test to fire this turn! (Do they each need to test, or one test for the unit?). His skinks meet similar problems, with the -1 to hit causing them to be unable to cause a wound to the chariot.
In combat, I'm starting to convince myself it's not so bad, when he reveals to me that his skink chief is weilding a lance that gives the stegadon +D6 impact hits. Sullenly, I await my 2D6+1 doses of pain. Thankfully, he rolls snakeyes for the hits, but still manages to crush 3 of my swordmasters. The Swordmasters deliver 9 wounds in return... until he rolls 8 out of 9 armour saves! The return attacks kills all but four of the elves, and they flee far enough to get away.
High Elves
I declare lots of charges this turn: The swordmasters on the skinks in the woods and the White Lions, Lion Chariot and my Noble on his unit of temple guard. I resolve the swordmasters first, causing the skinks to smoosh up and free up room for the White Lions to resolve their charge. The Lion Chariot makes it, but my noble trips over his dress about 2" out from his unit.
I fly my western eagle up to deflect a charge on my main assault, and position the spearmen to abuse a flank, should he opt to overrun past the eagle. My Dragon Princes loop around the forest, attempting to get into a flanking/rear charge position.
Magic is 11 v 4. I start with a shem's burning gaze on his chameleon skinks. He allows it, and they take two wounds and flee. I attempt a Pha's Protection (single target) once again, but he dispels it. My cogitated Archmage then throws 3 dice at Earthblood, which goes off, and another 3 at Flesh, which he scrolls. My reasoning for not casting throne here was that with becalming in place, I didn't want to fully commit to life that turn. Instead, I went half and half, settling for the lesser effects, as I felt they'd still produce the desired impact on the combat.
Shooting, I manage to take out a few skinks from the bigger unit on the west.
In combat - My swordmasters don't have full frontage on the slippery lizards, so I only manage to kill 9 of them. They hold due to being steadfast in the forest, thwarting my attempt at overrunning into an advantageous position.
My Lion Chariot rolls in and does 2 wounds via impact hits, and 3 wounds from the white lions (both the elf and lion variety). My 14 attacks from my white lions transfers to 10 wounds, for which he gets no armour save. His return attacks do 2 wounds to the chariot (Which is at 3 wounds left due to the successful life spell this turn) and one wound to the white lions. He holds due to being stubborn.
Turn 3
Lizardmen
He charges the pesky eagle with his huge block, and the remaining 4 swordmasters with his cold ones. His salamanders move up to get the bulk of his shots on the archers with the mage, but to also get one of the shots on the spearmen and force panic tests.
His magic is 8 v 7 once again. He throws 6 dice at a powered up speed of light. I allow it to go off, and he throws the remaining 4 at a powered up pha's protection, which I dispel with my remaining dice.
His salamanders and skinks all but wipe the archers off the map, leaving only the level 2 and his archer friend Max left. The shots, luckily, all sailed over my spearmen. The archers are within range of the BSB, and pass their break test.
In combat, my attacks still manage to kill the remainder of his temple guard, and the slann, no longer stubborn, fails his break test. I pursue with my lion chariot, but fail to catch it. The white lions reform facing left.
His big block smashes through the eagle, and he opts to overrun. His cold ones smash the remaining swordmasters, and he reforms to face the ones in the forest that have recently finished taking out the final skink. Those swordmasters reform to face the salamanders.
High Elves
The Lion Chariot declares a charge on the slann, and pursues him off the board. In a fit of rage, he smashes my chariot on the floor. Well... I guess it might have been an accident. Whatever. (lol)
The White Lions and spearmen both declare a charge on his big block's flank, and the Dragon Princes continue looping around. My Swordmasters charge his salamanders, and my big unit of archers charges his remaining unit of skinks. I move the Level 2 out of his unit to target those chameleon skinks, since I've effectively eliminated his shooting at this point.
Finally, my remaining eagle moves up to redirect the unit of cold ones for another turn, while I deal with the salamanders.
Magic is 12 v 6 (I've been on a run of incredible luck with magic phases lately). Free of becalming, my Archmage begins by putting up a Throne of Vines. This is allowed to resolve. I follow it up with a shem's burning gaze, which kills only one chameleon skink, leaving 3 left. Darn! I then try a flesh to stone, which he dispels, followed by a successful earthblood on the White Lions and a Pha's Protection on the spearmen.
The swordmasters manage to do 7 wounds total - one salamander and 4 crew. He kills 3 swordmasters in return, but he manages to hold on snakeyes!
In the big combat, the White Lions and spearmen manage to kill 6 of his Saurus, and 3 spearmen and a lion fall in return. I win combat, but he is still steadfast. He opts not to reform in order to keep steadfast in place, hoping to grind down my spearmen.
The archers kill a few, win combat, but he once again holds due to being stubborn in a forest.
Turn 4
Lizardmen
Quick turn here, with his magic all but neutralized. He charges his cold ones into the eagle (and kills it later, then reforms to again face the swordmasters).
His chameleon skinks move up to fire their shots into my squishy mage.
His magic is 8 v 6, and he throws 6 dice at Iceshard. I match it with my 6, and roll higher, dispelling it. He then uses the remaining to dispel throne.
His 6 poisoned shots only manage 1 wound, and my level 2 lives on!
In combat, the archers finish off the skinks, and his priest flees. I hold with the archers to avoid feeding the saurus combat resolution, instead reforming to face the chameleon skinks.
In the main fight, 7 saurus die, but he again manages to knock off enough of my ranks to retain steadfast! He holds, and again opts not to reform.
I'm sorry, I don't have any notes about the salamander combat here... It doesn't make sense that I killed the beasts themselves (too many wounds left between the beasts and handlers), so my guess is that I killed the remaining handlers (a misfire first turn took out an early 3), then he broke and just took them off the board. I reform with my swordmasters though, I know that for sure.
High Elves
I charge his skink priest with my lion chariot to get him to flee back through the unit (into range for shem's). I charge my archers at his chameleon skinks, and continue moving the princes around to the rear of the big unit. The swordmaster await their final round with the cold ones, with the BSB running in to their unit as well.
Magic is 12 v 7 (I know!!). I start by putting throne back up, which he allows. I follow it up with a shem's on his priest, which he allows as well, and subsequently gets incinerated. I then regrow 5 of the spearmen, and he dispels flesh on them. I manage to get up earthblood, however, and fail my attempt at pha's protection.
Again we stalemate in the middle, with me not causing enough more wounds than him to get rid of that final rank.
Turn 5
Lizardmen
He charges with his cold ones, but fails to make it (his banner is one use). With his magic, he dispels throne.
In combat, we stalemate once again (each round fewer and fewer white lions get to attack) and this time he opts to combat reform.
High Elves
I charge my Dragon Princes in to the flanks of his saurus and my swordmasters into his cold ones.
In magic, I manage to get flesh, Pha's and Regrowth on the spears. With the added pressure from the princes, the troublesome block finally breaks, and gets run down.
In the other combat, his hero issues a challenge. I accept it with my bsb, and we each put a wound on each other. My swordmasters kill 3 of his cold one riders, and he breaks despite being stubborn (due to the stegadon). I fail to catch him.
At this point with all of his units either fleeing or off the table, we call it a match. To celebrate, I pick up his Stegadon and smash it on the floor, and exclaim "THAT'S FOR THE CHARIOT!". Well.. I may have made that last part up.
Result: A very bloody Massacre for the High Elves!
Final Thoughts:
I wanted to get in one more game with this list before I committed to using it in this upcoming campaign. Turns out, I absolutely love it. It's fun to play, and the new lores fit it perfectly. Some more thoughts:
1. Once again, I'm so impressed with Lore of Light as a Level 2's lore. With a multi purpose magic missile to clean up stragglers, and plenty of great buffs, many of which can be pumped up into auras, there really aren't any bad rolls on this lore.
2. Salamanders? What salamanders? What a stark contrast to my last two games versus these guys. A lot of it had to do with luck - his #1 shot opportunity got squashed by pha's - but also aggressive movement really limits their options. Get units near his units, and the angles really tighten up for where he can shoot these guys. Just wish he'd tried to shoot my BSB
3. I'm rolling hot for my magic phase, yes, but I'm also very happy with the way my dispelling is going. In this game I was ( I feel) very effective at committing to dispel the most important spells, and let the chaff run their course.
4. You should have seen my face when he told me about that cold one combo...
5. I think my opponent should have reformed that big block much sooner. Yes, he would have run the risk of not being steadfast, but he then gets his rank bonus, extra rank of attacks and his parry save. The way I was rolling, this might have led him to win a round!
As always, I'd love to hear your comments! You guys have been absolutely great with them so far.
I had such a good experience this match, that I have decided to continue on with this list in the coming campaign. We did our first round matchups tonight - I have my first official match with the Warriors of chaos player from my last report. Let's see if I can manage it again. This time I'll play with a much more serious goal in mind - avoid the chosen at all costs! lol.
D
[i]There is nothing do fear but fear itself... well, that and Toughness tests. [/i]
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