So I went to my brother's house after drill last weekend and we got another game in. He had mentioned last month that he wanted to run a 2nd generation Slann, and I had requested that he warn me first so I could at least bring a little magic defense. Well, he didn't warn me.
This was the Lizardmen list:
Lord: 2nd Generation Slann with BSB ability, Plaque of Dominion (+1 to Power and Dispel pools), Diadem of Power (store 2 dice per phase to be used in the next phase), and the Plaque of Tepok (+1 spell)
Hero: Level 2 Skink Shaman with Cube of Darkness (Auto dispel, magic phase ends on a 4+, one use only)
Core: 20 Saurus Warriors with spear and shield, banner and musician
Core: 20 Saurus Warriors with hand weapon and shield, banner and musician
Core: 16 Temple Guard with full command and Jaguar Standard (Pursue an extra D6)
Special: 4 Kroxigor
Special: 10 Chameleon Skinks with champion
The High Elves list was as follows:
Hero: Level 2 Mage with Seer honor (Choose spells) and the Silver Wand (+1 spell)
Hero: Battle Standard Bearer with heavy armor and Battle Banner (+D6 to combat resolution)
Core: 19 Spearmen with full command
Core: 20 Spearmen with full command
Core: 20 Spearmen with full command
Core: 20 Archers
Core: 20 Archers
Special: 19 Swordmasters with full command and Banner of Sorcery (+D3 Power dice)
Rare: 1 Repeater Bolt Thrower
After smattering terrain we deployed. His left was the scouted Skinks, his Temple Guard with Slann was at the center with Spears to the left and Hand weapons to the right. The Kroxigor were on the right of the Hand weapon unit with the shaman between.
I stuck my Archers on both flanks with left being on the hill, the right side hill being too small, I parked the Repeater Bolt Thrower on that hill and spread the Spearmen in the center with the Swordmasters right center. The Mage took up position in the centerish Spear unit while the BSB parked in the Swordmaster unit.
Rolling for spells netted him Portent of Far and Storm of Cronos for his shaman, with his Slann getting Drain Magic as an auto spell, and rolling Fireball and Conflagration of Doom from the Lore of Fire, Uranon's Thunderbolt from Lore of Heavens, and finally Death Dealer and Doom and Darkness from the lore of Death.
Choosing my spells landed me the automatic Drain Magic, Curse of Arrow Attraction, Fortune is Fickle, and Flames of the Phoenix.
As he finished deploying first he got +1 to the choice of first turn, which he wound up not even needing as his 6 easily beat my 3. He decided to go first.
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The Movement phase saw the Lizardmen surged forward on their turn, bringing up their position, while the Chameleon Skinks brought their blowpipes into range.
The Magic phase started with each spell being higher than my 3D6 could hope to roll to stop it. Uranon's Thunderbolt did 6 hits on the Bolt Thrower, with 5 hitting crewmen, and wounding both with no save. Conflagration saw no wounds on the Swordmasters, while Fireball killed one Swordmaster.
The Skinks managed to fell 3 archers as their move cost them another modifier to hit.
TURN 1: HIGH ELVES
In my Movement phase I rapidly reformed my archers to catch the Skinks in their fan of fire, and left my army static. In retrospect not my best move.
The Magic phase saw Drain Magic as the only spell that I made a successful roll on. The Cube was used on this. Taste of things to come...
The Shooting phase saw 2 wounds on the Kroxigor, which wasn't enough to force a panic.
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The Lizardmen once again moved forward, this time with the Kroxigor and Spearmen edging forward to bait a charge. The Chameleon Skinks moved forward to eliminate the long range modifier, but creating the move modifier.
The magic phase saw 2 Swordmasters killed by Conflagration, and 1 dying to Uranon's Thunderbolt.
5 archers died to Skink shooting, no panic.
TURN 2: HIGH ELVES
No moves again, like an idiot.
Everything I tried to cast was dispelled.
Shooting saw 4 Chameleon Skinks fall, while on the other side of the board three wounds were dealt to the Kroxigor, felling one of their regiment.
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The Movement phase sees the Kroxigor charge the Spearmen on my left flank, the Lizardmen advance slowly now to bait the charge.
The Magic phase sees Conflagration of Doom as the only successfully cast spell, which kills 6 Swordmasters. As the BSB has the True of Heart honor, there is no panic.
In the Shooting phase the Skinks unload on the archers yet again, this time doing 4 wounds and forcing a panic check, which I promptly fail and flee 9"
Close combat has five Spearmen die without inflicting a single wound on the Kroxigor, but my standing Combat Resolution of 5 accounts for that, and my musician wins the combat. Thanks to Cold Blooded, the Kroxigor stood fast.
TURN 3: HIGH ELVES
My right flank Spearmen charge the Saurus spearmen on the hill, while my archers rally and reform. The other Spear regiment moves ahead 5 and my Swordmasters move 4 to leave room for a flank charge.
My magic phase was completely shut down (grumble grumble 2nd Gen Slann with no warning grumble grumble...)
The Shooting phase chalks up 2 dead Saurus warriors in the HW unit, not remotely enough for panic.
The Combat phase sees two more dead Spearmen against the Kroxigor for one wound in exchange, the Kroxi break, but my Spearmen are too exhausted to catch them.
On the hill my Spearmen whiff all their attacks, while the Saurus kill 3 of them. As my Spearmen flee, the Saurus Spearmen pass their test to restrain which leaves them room to charge the Swordmasters next turn.
* Yeah, somehow I forgot to take this picture...
TURN 4: LIZARDMEN
The Saurus Hand Weapon Warriors charged forward into the Spearmen, the Temple Guard charged forward into the Mage's Spearmen, and the Saurus spearmen charged the Swordmasters. Due to angles of charges, the Saurus regiments had two or three models in base contact, including corners. The Kroxigor rally and reform, and the Shaman and Cham Skinks move into better positions.
The magic phase started with Conflagration being cast on the fleeing Spearmen killing 3 of them, moving on to Doom and Darkness on the larger Spear unit in combat, and Portent of far on the HW Saurus.
The beleaguered archers on the right flank take 3 more wounds from Skink shoot and flee 9" in a panic.
On to combat! the 2 Swordmasters in base contact get killed before I can attack back, and with a 5 rolled for by BSB's magic banner, I wind up getting a high enough res that I can pass my break check.
The Temple Guard miss all attacks and receive a wound in return, but the combat is drawn.
The Saurus HW unit kills 2 spearmen while losing 1 in return. As the resolve of the Spearmen unit breaks, they turn to flee but the chaos of battle slows them and they are run down by the pursuing Saurus, which slam into the unengaged front space of the Mage's Spearmen.
TURN 4: HIGH ELVES
Without moves or charges to declare I successfully rally my fleeing spears and archers, reforming them to best face the upcoming onslaught.
In a fit of severely lucky dice rolling, I manage to get Curse of Arrow Attraction on the Kroxigor unit.
Thanks to said spell, my archers on the hill are able to doll out 5 wounds on the Kroxigor unit, who promptly pass their panic check.
Out of exhaustion on my part I didn't write down the sheer volume of attacks on the Mage unit, but the mage himself was targeted out and slain by the charging Saurus. I can't even remember if the Spears fled or not, I didn't write it down.
One saurus Spearmen died to no wounds on Swordmasters, drawn combat.
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Lessons learned were if you don't have the Dispel dice to stop someone, charge forward as fast as you can to nullify said magic phase.
Later, we discovered that he made a major error. He was storing PD in the diadem from the Shaman, wherein as I was reading the items list on my copy of the book to type this report that only the OWNER of the diadem could store. This would have been perfectly usable if the Diadem was on the Skink Shaman, but it was indeed a lesson learned.
Next battle we plan on a larger battle, and a guy from my National Guard unit wants to see a game, and we may make him type the battle report in Word so we can have a better showing. AND better pictures.
On a footnote I may try my hand at MSPaint some game maps to better illustrate what was happening. Like the ones that used to be in White Dwarf when it was worth buying.