warhammer fantasy battle report :-
"The Dragon Princes, angry by the loss of one of their number, charge the javelin skinks"
(maneuvering was all important in this game)| source : warhammer.org.uk | credit : David L | 14-Feb-2009 |
High Elves Army list
Archmage, Staff of Solidity, dispel scroll, Amulet of the Purifying Flame, Seer
Mage, Silver Wand, Ring of Corin
Commander, BSB, mounted, Helm of Fortune, Sword of Might
5 Silver Helms
5 Silver Helms
5 Silver Helms
11 Silver Helms, full command, Banner of Ellyrion
this will be called "the big unit" while the other 3 are just "silver helms"
6 Dragon Princes, full command, Banner of Sorcery
2 chariots
5 Shadow Warriors
9 Shadow Warriors (bodyguard for Mages)
2 Eagles
2 RBTs
Lizardmen Army list (edition 6)
Oldblood on cold one, Blessed Mark of the Old Ones, Spawning of Sotek, Aura of Quetzl, Bane Head, Piranha Blade
BSB on cold one with Sword of the Hornet
JSoD with Quetzl, Sotek, Enchanted Shield
priest, level 2, two scrolls
10 blowpipes, scouts
10 blowpipes
10 javelins
6 Saurus Cavalry, full command, war banner
6 Saurus Cavalry, full command, Huanchi's Blessed Totem
3 Terradons
8 Chameleon skinks
3 Salamanders
Stegadon
All his characters have 1+ armour saves, plus the 3+ save knights, so more lore of metal for me. Understudy rolls nearly perfect, getting the snipe, the magic missile, and Spirit of the Forge. (Perfect would be the combat penalty instead of spirit of the forge, but anything with the magic missile is great).
My Archmage got to be in charge again, while Ed's Oldblood got 3 re-rolls.
Deployment I have a hill barely in my deployment zone in the middle, a forest to the west and a pond to the east. There is a huge hill in the west center and a forest in the east center.
One of his cavalry units went down early enough to help me shift east. That kept my DPs and big unit away from his big hitters. His Oldblood and BSB with the Huanchi unit are on the far west. He dropped the Salamanders near the eastern forest right after my first chariot and I got ambitious and separated the chariots. I was attracted to the idea of impact hits against skink handlers, and forgot the pain of Salamander breathing on an HE chariot, so put the second one nearer them. Then the JSoD deployed in the Salamanders, which gave my chariot more pause.
I won the roll for scout placement and forgot the purpose of my own scouts. They exist to harass the big enemies and prevent enemy scouts from harassing me. But I saw I could squeeze them in near his troops and did it, attracted by the small spot. I should have remembered the chameleons and taken the western forest just to keep them out. His chameleons take that forest and his normal skinks are forced to drop in his own deployment zone, essentially just guarding the priest.
(see turn 1 picture below, deployment probably makes sense with the picture)
Turn 1 I won the scout roll, but he won the first turn. Stupidity is passed and his army starts to move up. They don't come full bore, as he doesn't want to take a chariot and Silver Helms in the face just yet. The Oldblood makes a point of shifting to the western side of his unit, so a western Silver Helm flank charge will fight only him. The Terradons come out just east of the cavalry, with skinks beyond them. They seem to be lining up on my RBTs, or my Mages. On the east side, the skinks and Salamanders go further east to kill my scouts.
In his magic phase, Ed discovers why scroll caddies should be level 1. Level 2 feels like you might do something and encourages you to cast. Or miscast. His first spell attempt is a 1 and 2, and the second is double 1s. Miscast table 6 lets me cast a spell, and Ed has to burn a scroll to save his Terradons from Molten Silver.
The javelin skinks drop one Shadow Warrior and the Salamanders roll triple 2s, killing another elf. Only one Salamander could see, but no misfires make that a worthwhile shot. And the Shadow Warriors panic!
The chameleon skinks move to the edge of the woods and take two wounds off the lonely chariot. Stegadon Bow goes for an Eagle but misses.
The west side 
and east side 
Ed may have been concerned about cavalry to the face, but I wasn't eager to send elves against healthy units with 3 S4 attacks per model. The western SHs move up to march block his Oldblood and one of the Eagles flies out to charge-flee the other cavalry. I move the other Eagle back to protect him from skinks so he can march block next turn. The Dragon Princes go straight up the eastern edge, wheeling in slightly and hunting Salamanders. With immunity to the Salamanders and near immunity to the skinks, they may be able to crush the flank alone. (I asked Ed before deployment if he considered Salamanders flaming, prepared to live with whatever he answered. He said they were flaming, I pointed out the DPs were immune, and nothing further was necessary). The big unit also went forward, as I wanted those Salamanders dead and the flank secured quickly. My scouts rallied.
The injured chariot backed up and faced the chameleons and other units advanced slightly and faced a bit more west. Spell range, LOS for the rear RBT, and the clogged area left my mages moving little.
Ring of Corin does its job of getting him use a dispel dice, Spirit of the Forge takes his last scroll, then I get off Molten Silver to obliterate the Terradons. Shadow Warriors and eastern RBT panic the central skinks, hill RBT kills a handler and wounds a Salamander.
The west side 
injured chariot is out of the picture below the RBT, facing the chameleons and east side 
Turn 2 The central Saurus Cavalry fail their stupidity test, but the one-inch-away Eagle has to flee the stumble forward. Skinks rally, Salamanders move west to blast my big unit. JSoD leaves the unit and come out my side of the woods, beside my big unit. Now my Mages are a bit more concerned, although he is still beyond 18 inches. Other eastern skinks are march blocked by DPs and move into the woods. Oldblood cavalry and Stegadon move up. Chameleons move towards the injured chariot.
Chameleons finish the chariot. One of the DPs forgot to put on his armour and javelins remove him. Salamanders breathe on the big unit for 18 hits, killing two, but eating three handlers. Ablative armour does its job and I still have a rank bonus! Three eaten handlers is 25% though, and the Salamanders panic themselves. I'm not convinced this was so bad for him, as the Salamanders now cannot be charged by my big cavalry unit.
The west side 
and east side 
The Dragon Princes, angry by the loss of one of their number, charge the javelin skinks. The skinks, not recognizing the speed of elven steeds, flee 4 inches and are run down. This leaves the DPs in the forest, but that's fine with me. The forest is relatively small and the only enemy vaguely nearby is the fleeing Salamanders who cannot hurt the DPs anyway. Plus the Salamanders might be chargable, assuming they rally.
My fleeing Eagle rallies and the other Eagle takes his spot in the face of the central cavalry. Angle would take the cavalry into one eagle with an overrun into the second eagle and away from the hill RBT. Other units wheel to face more west, including the big unit out in front. My Mages need LOS to blast the chameleons, so the Archmage and bodyguard move to the table edge to see around behind the hill. The level 2 needs range on the JSoD, so leaves the bodyguard to get an extra few inches in that direction. The western Silver Helms march up an inch behind the Saurus Cavalry, continuing to face northeast towards the skink priest. March block the oldblood AND hunt skinks, perfect!
I start magic with burning iron on the JSoD, hoping to draw dice. Ed doesn't fall for it, I've got the distance right at 22 inches, and the JSoD takes a wound. He can't dispel Spirit of the Forge, and the central saurus cavalry unit loses 4 guys. 6 chameleon skinks die to Molten Silver. With his dispel dice gone, the level 2 removes the JSoD's shoes.
The hill RBT finishes off the saurus cavalry unit. The other RBT, facing a 1+ save, single shots the shoeless scar-vet and kills him.
Turn 3 Ed knows things are going badly and looks for a way to pull it back. BSB leaves the unit and parks in the face of my western Silver Helms. Oldblood shifts to the unit middle and the unit moves forward. Stegadon faces east, but tries to stay within BSB range. Last two chameleons move towards eagle and RBT. Salamanders fail to rally and are gone.
Giant bow misses, chameleons fail to wound the eagle.
Ed forgets to officially activate the banner in his magic phase, but I happily let him do it at the end of the shooting phase. I made the same mistake often enough when playing Lizardmen, so missing the official timing is not unusual. Banner rolls a '1', but the Blessed Mark of the Old Ones turns that into a '4' and my Eagle gets charged in the flank! The Eagle gets splattered by the Oldblood and the saurus overrun 14 inches, now going almost due east. Ed has achieved the potentially game changing manuever, as his big unit is now in the middle of my army after traveling around 25 inches this turn.
Except my big unit has a flank charge on them, not touching the Oldblood. Well, they would if my chariot wasn't perfectly blocking LOS! In all probability, my advantage with magic and RBT flank shots was so great the charge would not have been ideal, but I would have taken it and trusted he wouldn't hold down 5. (the charge would be risky because the stegadon could hit my flank if the saurus cavalry stood). Since I couldn't do that charge, I sent the western Silver Helms into his BSB. I figured they'd get chopped up, but the fight is inevitable so I might as well use the lances and give Ed a chance to hack me up.
My Eagle flew west and faced the chameleons. If they wanted him, they would have to move away from the RBT. The DPs tried to get out of the forest. Chariot went north out of the path of the big unit, which turned south towards the saurus cavalry. Silver Helms, unable to move away, prepared to flee a charge of saurus cavalry.
I sniped the cavalry unit champion with magic, then unmade the Oldblood's ward save. Spirit of the Forge failed to cast, but combined fire from Molten Silver and RBTs wiped out the Saurus Cavalry unit and hurt the Oldblood. The Oldblood stood alone, down a wound or two.
In combat, his BSB only hit twice and I saved them both. Numbers vs banner and we draw.
Turn 4 Feeling lonely, the Oldblood fails his stupidity test but the Old Ones fix that for him. He charges a Silver Helm unit, who flee. By fleeing, even if he catches them, the Oldblood will be chargable by the big unit. If I held, its possible a pursuit move would get the Oldblood away. Last two chameleon skinks charge the RBT on the hill.
The Stegadon ignores my chariot and moves in, lining up a flank shot on some Silver Helms. It kills one, but starting at Strength 5 means the rest survive.
Ed's BSB hits twice and one fails to wound. I save the last and we draw again. Yes, Ed's dice are not rolling well. The chameleons and RBT crew mutually whiff.
My big unit charges the Oldblood in the flank, the BSB making a point to stay out of base contact. My Eagle charges the chameleons fighting the RBT crew.
Chariot charges five skinks, who flee, fail to rally, and leave. The chariot will eventually get killed by the priest and other skinks.
Shooting and magic pounds on the stegadon, doing several wounds. Ed dispels the combat penalty spell cast at his Oldblood.
BSB finally kills one Silver Helm, but the rest bravely hold. Against the Oldblood, armour saves means I lose only one Silver Helm and win by 4. Oldblood fails the break test, despite calling upon his last favor with the Old Ones, but escapes pursuit.
Eagle kills chameleon skinks.
End Game The Oldblood rallies, but fails his armour save on the second charge and dies. The Stegadon is felled by magic and RBTs. The BSB breaks and runs down the western Silver Helms. Game ends with the BSB safe west of a forest and the priest and scouting skinks hiding behind the big hill. I lost an Eagle, both chariots, one Silver Helm unit and half the scouts.
Effectively this game went exactly according to my plan, which is a rare event against such a good player as Ed. I had him in serious trouble after turn 1. He couldn't get to me quickly, couldn't manuever, and couldn't get rid of the march blockers. It didn't help that his dice were poor, but he needed bad rolls on my part to get out of the tactical situation alive.
