**Disclaimer: The accuracy of measurements in these images is probably pretty low at times. Without a real camera or note taking, measurements are mainly guesses and from memory. Please note that in the game, all of this did happen how it looks in the pictures, just not to the
mm.
Turn 1 - Lizardmen
Not impressed with pretty much losing two units of Chameleons, the Lizardmen vowed to bring pain to the rat-things. Both Clanrat units were in the perfect position, too.
*The Saurus Warriors Charged the rightmost Clanrat unit's front. The leftmost Skink unit moved forward, strategically placed to pounce around the corner of the building on the next turn. The two surviving Chameleons Rallied, and everyone else stayed put, preparing to blow pipes, fire or magic.
*The Skink Priest called a mighty Thunderbolt down on the faraway WLCannon, wounding twice on five potential hits. His summoning of Chain Lightning was dispelled, with force.
*Now came the "fun" phase, as this list was built for shooting. Unfortunately for the Lizards, two of its shooty units were out, and another was too far and looking the wrong way to do anything. The top Skink unit blew and blew and blew, and thanks to their Jungle Poisons managed to take out a few of the rats from the Warlord's unit. Now it was the Salamanders' turn. The first one's shot was perfect, and took out a handful of rats. The third's shot was similarly well-rolled, and took out yet another handful of the rats. But the second Salamander just got too rowdy in the face of battle that he sneezed and burnt a few of his handlers behind him. Andrew FINALLY got that Misfire roll I've been waiting for him to get. With 13 rat bodies littering the field, the unit made a Panic test, and passed just fine.
*Now it was time to see the Saurii in action. Combat was brutal for the rats. They are definitely meant to hold up a unit like the Saurus Warriors, and not really hurt them. There MAY have been a kill or two, but I can't recall that. All I can remember were the ten Clanrats that fell to the Scar-Vet and his unit. Looks like the Horned Rat was smiling broadly today...double 1s were rolled and the Clanrats stayed put, realising the big bad Saurii weren't so big and bad afterall.
Turn 2 - Skaven
Yikes! Twenty three rats chopped, poisoned or burned in one turn, and a couple of wounds on the WLCannon. Hrm. Time for revenge on the scaly-things.
*The Giant Rats Charged into the flank of the Saurus Warriors, as the Warlord's Clanrats Charged the Salamanders. The Warlock Engineer moved up, all alone in the world, setting his Optiks on the Priest and the Skinks. The Warpfire Thrower, with no targets, moved back through the centre of the field to put that other Skink Skirmisher unit in the firing lane. The Gutter Runners spun and rushed towards those two remaining Chameleons, grumbling that they should have just Fled off the table.
*With a wave of his glowrod the Warlock Engineer rained Warp-Lightning down upon the Skink Priest and his pals, doing a Wound to the Priest and toasting a couple of the others. With a fist thrust in the air attempting to Scorch the unit, he remembered too late that the fire came from the ground and not the sky, and so it failed (it was dispelled).
*The Gutter Runners easily finished off the remaining Chameleons. The WLCannon helped the Engineer toast a few more Skinks, with the second Artillery roll a mere 2. But the template landed well and got the job done, zapping four more Skinks. The PWM loaded and...misfired! But the tube was fortunately only clogged, and no rats were harmed in the firing of this mortar.
*The Warlord and his pals managed only a handful of hits and Wounds on the Salamanders, and took two losses in return. But with a Charge, a Standard, more ranks and more kills, coupled with a really high Cold-Blooded roll, the Salamanders fled and were chopped DOWN. It was a big shocker, and the first big turning point of the match. Andrew was at a loss for words, as he was at a loss for Salamanders. They had killed 10 rats already, but died too early to be properfly effective and make back their points. Yikes. Not far away, two sets of rats were in bloody, brutal combat with Saurus Warriors. With higher Initiative, all the rats hit and hurt first, but could only deal four kills, which may actually be a good thing considering the majority of dice were rolled by...giant rats. The return hits saw one Giant and six Clan rats fall to Lizard blades. But with the Flank Charging GRs, more ranks, a standard and a
BSB, the Rats won the combat. But the Cold-Blooded Lizards stayed put, but only just barely.
Turn 2 - Lizardmen
The Lizards were NOT happy. They had lost all of their Salamanders and Chameleons, and a fair share of Skinks and Saurii. A little bit of everything.
*With only three units left on the table, and one of them engaged, Movement was simple. Both Skink units turned and moved towards the Warlord's unit, both just within Short range with their blowpipes.
*The Skink Priest, not at all impressed by the powers that the Warlock Engineer was calling down, gave him a taste of his own medicine. With a crackling fury Chain Lightning shot forth from the Priests hands and engulfed the Engineer. In mere moments he was no more, leaving behind nothing more than a puff of smoke and smell of singed fur. That was big for the Priest, whose energy was ready for more. Unfortunately for him, on the 3+ needed for the Lightning to leap to the WPThrower, he failed with a 2, and it fizzled. It WAS a 120pt shot, though, which is nothing to sniff at in a 1000 point battle. The Thunderbolt was flung at the Warlord, singing a few more rats.
*Poisoned blowgun darts came down like rain on the Clanrats, 28 in all. 24 of them looking for 6s, four of them lookng for 5s. In the end, after many not-6s and a couple of sturdy shields, there were four more dead rats on the floor behind the Warlord.
*Over yonder the Saurii laughed big, hearty laughs as the puny rats tried in vain to hurt them. In fact, a
BSB Chieftan, nine Clanrats, fifteen Giant rats and two packmasters couldn't find ONE Wound on the Saurii this time. DISMAL. Empowered by their opponents' utter failure, the Scar-Vet and his Saurii hacked and slashed until one Giant Rat and 10 more Clanrats dropped dead. I think some actually died out of fear, and not sharp Lizard blade. Both of the rat units Broke and Fled, not surprisingly. The Giant Rats went up the field, not too far. The Clanrats rolled and Fled a powerful...7"! There was menace and malice in the Lizardmen's eyes as they hiked up their boots and began running down the survivors...only to find they were out of breath soon...Pursuing 1" short at 6"! If not for Scurry Away!, the rats would have been pummeled. If not for Scurry Away!, Andrew wouldn't have dropped his head and wondered why in the world he still plays games with dice with me.
**I found here to be another two turning points in the battle, in quick succession. First, with NO wounds on the Saurii, and a huge 11 in return, the rats got massacred. It looked pretty much over at this point for them. Second, though, because the rats actually Fled safely, albeit 1" ahead, I was saved from losing 217 points right there. We were all surprised (the two of us and one spectator) at this super lucky roll. I sort of feel I need to get a Horned Rat tattoo now, or something, in thanks for the aid.
Turn 3 - Skaven
This was going to be an interlude turn, I felt, with not too much to do. No magic, a couple of Fleeing units, all I could do was position a few units and fire with others.
*The Giant Rats rallied, and turned around, while the
BSB unit, go figure, kept on Fleeing. They actually fled just above, and not through, the Forest, as the picture suggests. The Gutter Runners, happy with finishing off two Chameleon units but ready for more, moved up in range of the Saurii. The PWMortar moved over a touch, and the WFThrower pivoted to aim at the Saurii. The Warlord's unit, still full of vigor even though a little singed and being peppered by poisoned darts, turned and readied to face off against the Skinks next turn.
*This turned out to be a pretty important turn for shooting. Well, except for the PWM, who Misfired AGAIN. What backstabbery is this!? However, the Great Horned One really, really does like me. I rolled another 6, keeping them ineffective but safe for one more round. The WFT did much better, burninating four Saurii. In fact, due to proximity there was a good chance that the template would overshoot the unit and even hit the Giant Rats (again, the picture does not convey this, but it's true). A 2 would have been perfect. I asked our spectator, Les, to call "2", as he often has this uncanny knack for calling dice rolls (strange, normally I do when I play games with another friend, Steve, but when Les is around, he's got the power). Andrew asked him to call "10". With a smile he said, "Did you say 2?", I rolled...a 2! Hah. Amazing. Maybe Les is actually the Great Horned One? I should look into that. Anyway, the template landed and again, it roasted four Lizards. Behind the WFT the Gutter Runners got to use those slings again, taking down two more Saurii. Over on the right, the WLC shot again and this time bounced and hit perfectly with a S10 blast of Warp Lightning. A Skink fell and the Skink Priest just blew up. The trees still reek of fried Lizard bits.
**With no Magic and no Close Combat, this was a short turn, but very effective for the Skaven, nonetheless.
Turn 3 - Lizardmen
Things were not looking good for the Lizards, after such a harsh Skaven turn. But looking at the table, the Skaven had lost quite a bit of their own power. With the very tough Saurii unit numbering seven, including the Scar-Vet, it could still go the scaly-thing way in a pinch.
*The Saurii Charged the nearby WFT, whose Stand & Shoot reaction did manage to take out 2 Lizards. Great for the Skaven, not so great for the Lizards. No other movement.
*Once again poisoned darts rained down upon the Warlord's unit, 26 this time, and with better odds. The rats seemed to be a little more prepared for this one, probably in testudo formation (if you don't know what that is, find out, it's wicked), and only suffered two Wounds. Bad rolling for Andrew once again meant trouble for the next turn.
*Close Combat with the WFT was quick and easy as they got slaughtered. The Overrun shot the Saurii into the Gutter Runners (oops!), who couldn't even Stand & Shoot, which would have been awesome.
**While putting the images together I had forgotten that the Overrun just brought the Saurii into the GR, with no combat this turn. This image just shows you what is going to happen NEXT turn.
Turn 4 - Skaven
In regards to the Skinks, it was probably just going to be a matter of cleaning up. With those Saurii, however, who knows?
*The Warlord Charged the Skinks, taking two Wounds to Stand & Shoot, while the Giant Rats moved up as far as they could, ready to get into any future fights.
*The WLCannon took a shot that could have been great on a second die of 4, but came up as a second die of 2. Pfft. Fell just short of the Skinks in the Forest. The PWM, though, after unclogging their tube (sounds dirty) for two turns finally got back into the game with a Direct Hit on the Skinks! Way to come back. Two more Skinks gone and the remaining guy ran for it.
*The Warlord and his pals made Lustrian mince meat out of the Skinks, taking no Wounds in return, and running them down as they Fled. It's too bad the building was in the way, or else maybe the Gutter Runners could have seen that fight and gained some valour or something. Instead, the five of them could only manage a single kill before being brutally and inexcusably hacked, slashed and mulched.
Game End
We decided to end the game here. It was getting late, and Andrew figured that with literally only one Fleeing Skink who would either keep fleeing or get shot or run down, and three Saurii with a Scar-Vet who probably would not be able to catch any of the rats in two turns, it was time to call it. Sure, with some luck and the right moves he could have gotten a few points back, but I had only lost 190 points, while he only had 443 left on the table (probably 76 less very soon).
It was a great game with a few awesome moments, a few horrible dice rolls, and some incredibly lucky ones (mostly on my part).
Some things that I noticed, upon writing the report and doing the Battle Chronicler pictures:
*We forgot to check for Panic from nearby unit annihilations.
*We forgot to do Combat Reforms.
*I think we forgot some rules about multiple combats, like I think the Saurii who were flanked got to use their Shields.
Granted, added together we have only played half a dozen games of WFB, most of them with each other, so we are definitely still learning. But we're having a lot of fun, learning new things and the games are getting shorter and shorter, which is important.
Thanks for reading!
C&C of all types are welcome.
