Game number three between my Skaven and Andrew's Lizardmen. Oh, I wasn't supposed to say it was his army. You'll see why shortly.
We decided to up the points again, letting us test new units and tactics. The board was nearly identical to our last game's, namely because it hadn't been changed in the 5 days since.
Skaven List
Warlord w/ Halberd, Foul Pendant
Chieftan w/ Halberd,
BSB
Warlock Engineer w/ Warp-Energy Condenser, Level 2 (
Warp Lightning, Scorch)
31 Clanrats w/ Shields, Standard, Musician, Warpfire Thrower
31 Clanrats w/ Shields, Standard, Musician, Poisoned Wind Mortar
14 Giant Rats w/ Packmaster
14 Giant Rats w/ Packmaster
20 Plague Monks w/ Standard, Musician
Hell Pit Abomination
*A number of changes from the last game. I dropped the Gutter Rats and Warp Lightning Cannon, added 2 Clanrats, added Halberds to the big guys. I turned the Giant Rats into 2 units of 14 w/ Packmaster, again expecting them to protect the flank against sneaky Chameleons. I added Plague Monks and...*dun, dun dunn*...added the Hell Pit Abomination. I was excited to add him, even though it meant I lost the WLCannon. Would it prove to be the right decision?
Lizardmen List
Scar-Veteran
Skink Priest, Level 2 (
Wind Blast, Chain Lightning)
20 Saurus Warriors w/ Full Command
10 Skink Skirmishers w/ Brave, Blowpipes
10 Skink Skirmishers w/ Brave, Blowpipes
18 Temple Guard
10 Chameleons
3 Salamanders w/ 11 Handlers
*I apologize, I don't recall the exact loadout of his guys. From last game he rearranged his Skinks and Chameleons, dropping the latter down to a single unit of 10 instead of 2 units. With all the changes and extra points he brought out 18 Temple Guard, testing them out.
Deployment
I think I set up pretty well, defending my flanks. Perhaps having the HPA right between two units was dangerous, but I always bank on luck to save me from too much pain. =)
I also think that I frustrated Andrew with how I set up. It left nowhere for his Chameleons to Scout deploy where they could do much good. So he put them in the Forest in front of me. Not necessarily a bad choice, but as we would later find out, the angle was less than ideal. Also, the fact that I bunched up, he didn't have a lot of room to move around himself, potentially.
And, once again, I rolled for first turn. Thrice this has been Andrew's bane.
*Disclaimer: As usual, I have attempted to get as accurate with these Battle Chronicler images as possible. Where angles and distances seem questionable, please trust me that in the game it all made sense.
Skaven Turn 1
*Movement: I started off calling a Charge with the Giant Rats against the Chameleons. He Fled 6", and I failed only moving 2". At least it got them out of the game for a turn. The HPA rolled 10", which was actually cool, so I could keep my entire battleline together, moving everyone else up 10" as well. The other Giant Rats moved up around the other side of the building, heading towards the Skinks there.
*Magic: The Winds of Magic were barely a puff of sparkles, with I think two 2s rolled. This forced me to choose just one spell, and I chose
Scorch against the Saurus Warriors. With a successful cast and an unsuccessful dispel, the unit lost 7 Saurii. Andrew was not impressed.
*Shooting: The Warpfire Thrower aimed at the Chameleons, but couldn't roll high enough to hit them. The Poisoned Wind Mortar scattered 4" too far to hurt the Temple Guard.
**Recap: Not a huge first turn, but taking the Chameleons out of commission, moving units up foward and burning 7 Saurii was good enough for me.
Lizardmen Turn 1
*Movement: No Charges. The Salamanders, (his) leftmost Skinks, Saurii and Temple Guard all moved up to within striking/future striking distance. The Saurii had to maneouvre around the Chameleons, who rallied. The other Skinks turned, aiming at my battleline.
*Magic: (Again, things are sketchy as I wasn't taking notes, but I believe...) The Skink Priest cast Chain Lightning, which I could not dispel. It fried 3 Clanrats in the Warlord's unit, bounced to the HPA, failed to wound him, then failed to continue bouncing on. Not as good a Magic phase as my own.
*Shooting: The Salamanders, working together, toasted 9 Giant Rats and the Packmaster. The unit then Fled, nearly hitting the table edge. The Skink Skirmishers took a shot, through the Forest, at the WFThrower. I got scared when he rolled two Wounds. But one armour save and one ward save later, they were safe. Pheeuw!
**Recap: Overall, nothing special. Removing the Giant Rat unit was good, as they would not be able to harrass either the Skinks or the Salamanders later. Chain Lightning could have done more. A lot more.
Skaven Turn 2
*Movement: The Plague Monks and the Warlord's Clanrats Charged into the Temple Guard. The other Clanrats Charged into the Chameleons. The one Giant Rat unit Fled off the board, while the other one moved up closer to the Skinks, ready to Charge next turn. The HPA moved up a whopping 7", 3" shy of the Saurii, sadly. The positioning was alright, though, as we would see later.
*Magic: Another weak-sauce Winds of Magic roll meant I was only going to get off a single spell again, which again was
Scorch, this time on the Skinks with the Priest. Even though I was able to target 7, I think, I only managed to kill 4.
*Shooting: The PWMortar helped put a little more hurt on the Skinks, taking out another 3. The WFThrower did considerably better, scorching 6 of the other Skinks who, of course, as they all have been, passed their Panic test.
*Close Combat: Finally, some hand-to-hand! The
BSB Clanrat unit dealt 5 wounds to the Chameleons, without taking any back. The Chameleons Fled, and instead of Pursuing the rats reformed to face the Salamanders that were surely going to be spitting their way. In the big melee, I got off all my attacks first, including 20 from the Monks (I have a feeling I only rolled 15, though, now that I think of it...crud...), 4 from the Warlord and another 9 from the Clanrats. All that hacking and slashing, and all I could deal was 4 kills. I guess when you're attacking hulking Temple Guard with puny, pestilent rats, you can't ask for TOO much. Maybe 4 was a good number? Regardless, the
TG decided to dish out some hurt: 6 Monks and 6 Clanrats fell, sliced and diced. Even with the Charge, and extra ranks, the rats lost. But with good leadership, good rolls, good ranks, etc. no one fled. The Monks did lose their Frenzy, though, which was less than ideal.
**Recap: I got my units where I wanted them and took out a number of Lizards throughout the turn. However, the unengaged Clanrats would be a problem, i.e. a perfect target for the Salamanders, while the slowpoke HPA could have done some big damage if he had gotten in with the Saurii.
Lizardmen Turn 2
*Movement: My skillfull (read: lucky) placement meant that the Saurii could not Charge into the HPA, which probably would have been more ideal than him charging them later. Pheeuw! Instead, they shifted over a little closer to their right and accepted the Priest into their ranks. Otherwise, the diminished Skinks came closer, ready to shoot. The Chameleons rallied again, while the Salamanders spun, their path now clear to roast some rats.
*Magic: Another poor roll for the Winds, I believe. Either way, he failed to cast Chain Lightning.
*Shooting: Uh oh. Both Skink units took aim and took out the Weapon Teams. 135 points gone, like that. The Salamanders huffed and puffed and fried some Clannies. 11 from the
BSB unit, 1 from the other, but only managed one Wound on the HPA! Thank goodness! The
BSB unit passed its Panic test. The middle Salamander (again, as it happened last game) decided to eat 3 handlers instead. I think he's on our side.
*Close Combat: Another 4 Temple Guard fell to the amassed rats. 3 Monks and 3 Clanrats died, but with superior numbers (ranks), it was a draw. Since we both had Musicians, it continued being a draw.
**Recap: A LOT of rats died this turn: 15 Clanrats, 3 Plague Monks, 2 Weapon Teams and a Wound on the HPA. I've lost 185 points at this juncture in the battle. The Lizards...0. I needed to do some damage this turn, like, seriously.
Skaven Turn 3
*Movement: The
BSB Clanrat unit Charged the Salamanders. The Giant Rats came around, again, for the third turn just running around doing nothing. The Warlock Engineer moved in close to the Clanrats, just in case. The HPA ended up Charging the Saurii, locking in with the Scar-Vet General, the Musician and a regular dude.
*Magic: Finally a good Winds roll! But
Scorch was dispelled, and
Warp Lightnin, hitting and only needing 4 2s to whipe out the nearby Skink unit...rolled 2 1s. YEESH. The Skinks did not Panic.
*Shooting: Oh wait, all my shooters are dead. Grr.
*Close Combat: We decided to start with the HPA vs. Saurii, as this was a whole new beast to deal with. It went sort of like this:
Impact Hits:
d6 = 6
Avalanche of Flesh: 3 + (
2d6 = 8) = 11
Thunderstomp:
d6 = 5
So that was 22 Strength 6 hits. 12 Saurus Warriors (incl. Full Command) dead. Scar-Vet General dead. Skink Priest, down to 1 wound.
The fact that I technically didn't whipe out the ENTIRE unit, because of the Priest, that sucks. But I did kill 12 Warriors and a Scar-Vet. I'm down with that. And because of Initiative, only the Priest could attack back, and failed, so the HPA took no return hits.
Andrew called the game.
Game End
It's understandable that Andrew called the game here. Looking at the battlefield, there was slowly less and less that he could do. The
TG vs. Monk/Clanrat fight would probably have seen another 4
TG die, and maybe 3-4 Monks and 3-4 Rats. Still looking in my favour. The
BSB vs. Salamanders, if it went like last time, might see the Sals flee. Or at least the fight would be prolongued.
Who knows? Once again, perhaps if we did play another turn or two, anything could happen. But it was late, and that HPA fight was quite demoralising.
