Empire vs Lizardmen (8th edition) 2,500pts Battle Report

A written Warhammer 8th Edition Fantasy Battle Report + maps from Battle Chronicler (I think !) 

"In an absolute schoolboy error I fought the Archlector fight first, meaning when my knights broke the razordon and pursued into this combat, it was too late for them to fight again"


Sigmar: Don't let the above comment mislead you, this Battle Reporter knows what he's doing, his useful after game analysis is testimony to that (this is just a reminder that even the very best gamers make those irritating mistakes especially when trying to learn a new set of rules !). I like ukko's report and I'm hoping to show some more of them - he's to the point and you feel like you're learning something when you read the report and I felt like nodding my head due to similar shared experiences.

source : http://warhammer.org.uk

credit : ukko

edition : 8th

05-Aug-2010

Played a game a couple of days ago with my empire against lizzies. Been trying to put together a decent allcomers but this was only my second game with empire and 4th game of 8th.

The Empire Army List

Arch lector on war altar, GW, speculum, meteoric iron
Lv4 (life), horse, scroll, holy relic
BSB, barded horse, dragonhelm, dawnstone, sword of might
Warrior Priest, barded horse, dawn armour, wyrmslayer sword, shield
2*29 halberers with full command
2*10 crossbows
5 knights with banner and musician
8 inner circle knights with full command and flaming banner
2 cannons
5 outriders with musician
Steam tank
Rocket battery

Lizardmen Army List

Slann BSB, warbanner, extra dice, all lore (life)
Oldblood, blade of realities, potion of speed
Engine lv2(3), plaque of tepok
Scar vet, armour of destiny
2*24 saurus with banner and musician
10 skink skirmishers
16 Temple guard with full command and sword of the hornet on champion
5 cold ones
Salamander pack
Razordon pack

Deployment:

He got first turn and pushed forward, magic was uneventful and shooting was out of range except for his salamander which chanced a long shot at the lv4's unit but misfired and ate its crew (gaining frenzy/hatred as a result). My first turn I pushed the altar and stank in front of his central blocks and shuffled the other things around to enact plan stank-n'-flank (Tm). The knights held back in the centre, hoping he'd throw the saurus into the alter and I could counter charge in my turn. I figure'd the stank could probably hold up the entire left flank on its own for 2 or 3 turns while I regrouped, as he didn't really have any other option but to charge it. Magic didn't do much as i rolled low. Shooting saw one cannon stick in the ground short of the engine, the other going straight through it. I wounded everything except one crew dude and he proceded to roll his 5+ wards on all 3 crew and the prest. However, in a classic example of getting the luck when it matters, he failed the ward on the steg and I preceded to roll 6 yummy wounds. To add insult to injury, I then used the stank's remaining 2 steam points to cannon the priest (rules question: we assumed he still got his 5+ ward but I've no idea if that's right). Crossbows and rocket did nada. Have to admit, at this point I was feeling pretty confident.

Next turn he ploughed into the stank with his cold ones and TG, a mistake he later attributed to just not having enough experience playing empire (he probably liked the idea of keeping those units safe from shooting too). He also managed a mammoth 14" inch charge with the saurus on the halberders on the left flank, who they would then butcher and chase down in the combat phase. Finally, the other saurus went into the altar, along with the frenzied salamander. I managed to keep his magic largely in check, and his shooting only saw his razordon eat its crew as well . In combat, the stank lost a wound to some halberds and the oldblood got speculum'ed but good (again, he just wasn't familiar enough with the empire book - I was shocked when he accepted the challenge). Rules question 2: the blade of realities missed the altar but if it had hit, what leadership would it have tested on?

In my turn the knights charged the TG, as the stank had to realign to close-the-door on the cold one charge (this isn't really captured very well in the diagram). This meant the TG were dragged forwards in front of the saurus and I couldn't squeeze the knights through to the squishier saurus block. Oh well, in for a penny i guess. The halberders charged the salamander in the flank of the altar and the knights charged the lone razordon on the right flank. In an epic display of artillery dice suckery, the razordon demonstrated his eagerness for the upcoming fight by eating his last crew member, instead of standing-and-shooting me (at least he got all hatey though). Now I did something silly. In an absolute schoolboy error I fought the archlector fight first, meaning when my knights broke the razordon and pursued into this combat, it was too late for them to fight again. In said archlector fight, I think I won by one or two but nothing broke. The stank was feeling good about itself and ate all the cold ones with 7 impact hits from 3 steam points, not that the temple guard cared.

The rest of the game was just a slug fest really - I lost a cannon to a misfire, the outriders to keep the saurus away from the rear of the TG fight, and the plain knights, who eventually broke from the combat on my right. He lost all the TG, the scar vet (who dived into the TG combat but broke after I obliterated half a dozen TG with the help of Birona's mindwarp), and the salamander. We didn't bother counting it up at the time but I'd only lost about 400-450 points and he'd lost everything except the slaan, both saurus units and the skinks.

Thoughts after the game:


- Was a bit rash with the archlector. I wanted to pin his eastern block in place but I should have held back and let my shooting have another rip at him on that side. Sending him in front of ranked infantry is a mistake I'll try and avoid in future too, as I really could've paid for it if my opponent had rolled a little hotter.


- Being aggressive with the stank is the way forward. It not only ties down things I want to stay away from, but it also keeps it safe from magic and shooting. I'll also avoid risking extra steam points unless absolutely necessary. I managed to roll 6s on all three occasions where I went for an extra steam point, one less would've been guaranteed points and I would have cracked the TG a turn earlier and got the slaan.


- I need to be braver deploying the crossbows. They get less to shoot at now and really need to make the first two turns count to be worth it. Safety first approach seems to be getting me nowhere with them - in my first two games with the empire they've survived easily but only accounted for 2 harpies and a shade. Next game I'll be more inclined to leave them isolated if it means they can rack up some casualties and impact on the game.


- Loving the +3 DD of the empire. Along with +4 to dispel, it really makes it hard for the other guy to get stuff through.


- Probably drop the rocket battery for another 5 outriders. I wanted the battery to help against big blocks of infantry, which I feel like I'm not very well equipped to deal with. I'm not keen on the randomness though, I think I'd rather more shots to trim ranks off here and there instead.


- I think life is a great deck but I'm not sure it's right for this build. The idea of healing the stank and buffing the knights and halberders to keep them alive seems fantastic but I'm not sure I have the dice to make it meaningful - the slaan is a different story, as are banner of sorcery toting HE. I might try heavens in the next game..


- When playing against this Lizard Slann-life build (which as an aside, I think could be a really effective army), stopping throne of vines is a must. At times, I thought I was over-doing it, throwing 3 or 4 dice at it early on in a few phases and burning my scroll on it later in the game, but I think it was the right thing to do. It forced him to try and plink away with little buffs here and there to avoid miscasting, which usually meant I could stop the one spell which really mattered. I also think that tying down the TG bunker while ganging up on other things to rack up points will be the easiest solution to the match-up in most cases.