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8th Ed. 6000 point Game Versus Dwarves

Discussion in 'Battle Reports' started by Scalenex, Feb 2, 2015.

  1. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    I recently played my first 6000 point game. My previous biggest game was game of about 4400 points of a map campaign game. It took us about ten hours but we set up at a fairly leisurely pace, took extensive notes and also discussed the dire omens of future of 9th edition and what we would do if GW ruined 9th edition. Of course we also discussed drone warfare, “Deflate-gate,” the Nobel Prize committee's recent decisions, and the moral and practical issues surrounding the reemergence of formerly eliminated diseases in the United States due to anti-vaxers.

    LM Army

    Lords: 1360 points
    “Light” Slann Mage Priest, General, BSB, Standard of Discipline, Channeling Staff, Egg of Quango (which I forgot I had all game), Harmonic Convergence, Soul of Stone, Reservoir of Eldritch Energy, Lore of Light

    “Shadow” Slann Mage Priest, General, BSB, Standard of Discipline, Forbidden Rod, Harmonic Convergence, Soul of Stone, Reservoir of Eldritch Energy, Lore of Shadows

    “Light” Saurus Old One, Armor of Destiny, Ogre Blade, Luckstone Shield

    “Shadow” Saurus Old Blood B, Talisman of Preservation, Piranha Blade, Light Armor, Enchanted Shield

    Heroes: 617 points
    Skink Priest, L1 Lore of Heavens Ancient Stegadon with EOTG
    Saurus Scar Veteran, Halberd, Light Armor
    Saurus Scar Veteran, Halberd, Light Armor
    Skink Chief, Light Armor, Shield, Javelins
    Skink Chief, Light Armor, Shield, Javelins

    Core: 1501 points
    67 Cohort Skinks with 2 Kroxigor, Poisoned Attacks, and Full Command
    30 Sword and Board Saurus Warriors with Full Command
    30 Sword and Board Saurus Warriors with Full Command
    13 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins and Shields
    13 Skink Skirmishers with Javelins and Shields

    Special: 1147 points
    34 “Shadow” Temple Guard with Full Command and Gleaming Pennant (never used because they never lost a round of combat!)
    34 “Light” Temple Guard with Full Command
    5 Chameleon Skinks
    5 Chameleon Skinks

    Rare: 1375 points
    Ancient Stegadon, with Unstoppable Stampede, EOTG
    Ancient Stegadon, with Unstoppable Stampede, EOTG
    Ancient Stegadon, with Unstoppable Stampede, EOTG
    Ancient Stegadon, with Unstoppable Stampede, EOTG
    Troglodon with Divining Rod


    Dwarf Army

    Lords: 531 points

    Dwarf Lord with Shieldbearers, 3 Runes of Warding, 2 Runes of Iron, Rune of Fortitude, and a great weapon

    Daemon Slayer with Master Rune of Swiftness, Rune of Might, and Rune of Fury.

    Heroes: 611 points

    Thane, BSB, Great Weapon, Master Rune of Grungi
    Runesmith with Rune of Spell Breaking, Shield, Rune of Stone, Rune of the Furnace
    Runesmith with Rune of Spellbreaking, Master Rune of Balance (which barely ever worked)
    Runesmith with Rune of Spell Breaking, Rune of Stone, great weapon
    Master Engineer with Rune of Shielding, Rune of Parrying, Great Weapon

    Core: 1721 points

    40 Long Beards with great weapons, Full Command, and Rune of Stoicism
    39 Quarrelers with great weapons and Full Command
    20 Thunderers with Shields
    20 Thunderers with Shields

    Special: 2337 points

    Cannon with Rune of Forging and Rune of Burning
    Cannon with Rune of Forging and Stalwart Rune
    Cannon with Rune of Forging
    Grudge Thrower with Rune of Accuracy, Rune of Penetration and Rune of Forging
    Grudge Thrower with Rune of Accuracy
    Gryrocopter
    Gryrocopter
    Gryrocopter
    Gryrocopter
    14 Slayers with Musician, Standard Bearer, Rune of Slowness, Rune of Sanctuary
    26 Ironbreakers with Full Command
    40 Hammerers with Standard and Musician and Master Rune of Groth

    Rare: 800 points

    Organ Gun with Rune of Forging and Accuracy
    Organ Gun with Rune of Forging and Master Rune of Disguise
    Gyrobomber
    18 Irondrakes with Full Command and Rune of Slowness

    We wanted to use a themed terrain chart but did not want to use Mountains or Lustria and we arbitrarily selected with the “Empire Heartland” Terrain Chart that we jointly developed much earlier Ninth from the top if you are curious what the chart had on it.

    We rolled “6” like it was going out of style. First we rolled a “6” for the d6+4 terrain pieces, then rolled Building over and over again. We had a fence, a hill, two ordinary forests, a marsh, a settlement with a Sigmarite shrine (which has no effect on Forces of Order), 3 obstacles and three buildings, and four buildings. Amazingly my friend actually had a building left over in his hobby room after we got what we needed. His hobby room is almost as well stocked as our local hobby store.

    One of the buildings is usually a wizard tower, so we kept the Human wizard model that usually accompanies the tower on the model building for tradition’s sake. While the Empire Wizard did not participate in the battle, he did have a great vantage view for everything so he’s going to help narrate my battle report as is my only surviving Chameleon Skink.

    My Skink Priest rolled Wind Blast which I kept because of all the flying machines. My Light Slann rolled Speed of Battle, Banishment, Net of Amytok, and Biorna’s Timewarp. I was somewhat disappointed that I did not get Pha’s Protection. My Shadow Slann rolled Withering, Penumbral Pendulum (which I swapped for Melkoth’s Mystifying Miasma), and Okkam’s Mindrazor. I rolled a choice so I chose Pit of Shades.

    The Dwarf player rolled a “1” on the Ancestral Grudge Chart so his General hated my General. That was a relief. A “5” or “6” would have probably shifted the whole battle by at least 500 points.

    (My left is West, my right Right East, my deployment zone is south, my friend’s deployment zone was north)

    I am a Chameleon Skink. I have no name so death can’t find me. Likewise I only refer to my fellow First by descriptive terms such as “Light Slann” or “Blue Sauri” for their own protection. Believe me anyone with a name in Klodorex is tempting Fate to destroy them. Do not judge me so-called cowardice on this or for my behavior in the battle. You didn’t see what I have seen! Once it was clear I could no longer meaningfully impact the battle, I decided for the good of my city that I must chronicle this epic battle for our historians. With our patience and 360 degree vision, Chameleon Skinks are ideal scribes. I’ve submitted my proposals to the High Skinks that all Chameleon Skinks be reassigned from the army to our staff of scribes.

    I do not know what the great and mighty Slann wanted to fight the Dwarves, nor why they selected this particular area for the battle, but I am a loyal servant of the Old Ones so I did my duty and reconnoitered the area. The west of the battlefield had a large settlement of seven buildings, a statue of a guy with a hammer, and it was surrounded obstacles. A all hedge wall ringed the south half and a wooden fence framed the north perimeter. There was a tall building on a hill in the southeastern corner of the battlefield in our deployment zone and a short building in center north of the battlefield in the Dwarf’s deployment zone. There was a wooden fence stretched across the center east of the battlefield almost as if the First Children of the Old Ones had placed it there in a desperate but futile attempt to prevent the awful cannons from shooting our mighty dinosaurs. The center northeast had a swamp that gave way to a small forest. There was a small forest in the center west.


    On my far left I deployed 13 Skirmishers and a Skink Chief inside the southern portion of the walled town. A Stegadon was hugging the fence, then came my Shadow Temple Guard (and my Shadow Oldblood and Slann), my green Saurus Warriors with a Stegadon behind them, my Skink Priest Steggy was in dead center, then came my Light Temple Guard, another Steggy, then my big Skroxigor Cohort, and I deployed my other Skirmishers and Skink Chief in the building in my lower right corner (a small mistake as popping in and out of the building only covered about five inches instead of my 12 inch march move.) Everyone started out covered with a Ward Save from an EOTG Steggy and my center line had redundant Steggies.

    My Chameleon Skinks took the center left (in a small forest) and center right of the table (in front of the fence). I brought them to counter rangers more than anything else but my friend did not take any rangers in this list.

    I was worried when the Dwarf Lord told us a massive Lizardmen army wascoming soon. “Why would this be?” I asked, but the Dwarf Lord waved my question aside. He assured me they would “protect” us, and I couldn’t really refuse the leader of such a massive army. Why did they have to fight the Lizardmen so close to our beloved township! I’m sure the Lizardmen are here on account of them, not us.

    In the northeast A cannon and Grudge Thrower crew were each using our town as speed bumps to approaching skirmishers while still giving them an impressive vantage point for most of the battlefield. Two of the odd looking flying machines were deployed in front of them. The Longbeards came next. The 15 Slayers were deployed on the edge of town fairly far away from the main fighting more or less screened by the 40 Longbeards. The Slayers were not happy with this.

    More artillery was set up in the center north. The local tannery outside of town was requisitioned for a firing base for cannon and an Organ Gun deployed adjacent to it on the west side. On the east side of the tannery, the large unit of Quarrelers deployed with another two flying machines in front of them. A runesmith joined the Quarrelers. I figured our tannery would not survive the battle and I just knew John Tanner would want to stay with me in that situation. Inconsiderate Dwarfs! Do you want a smelly tanner living with you?

    Further to the east, the Ironbreakers deployed with the General, Battle Standard Bearer, and one of the runesmiths deployed behind them. 20 Thunderers deployed on the east flank of the Quarrelers. The Hammerers deployed on their eastern flank of the Ironbreakers. The rest of the artillery (an Organ Gun, Cannon, and Grudge Thrower) deployed in the northeast section of the battlefield, well outside of town. The third runesmith deployed with them, along with the Master Engineer. The Master Engineer moved back and forth from the Organ Gun to the Grudge Thrower with an intuitive since of where he was needed most as the battle progress. The eastern artillery line was covered by 20 Thunderers and the nearby forested swamp. Seemed a good strategy. Surely the mass of Lizards against them would lose several members if they charged across the marsh. Little did I know the littlest reptiles thrive in shallow water. The largest flying machine (with the heavy bombs) deployed in their general vicinity.



    LM Turn 1


    All the infantry units marched out at a brisk pace. The Sotek caste Skinks in the southeast immediately regretted their decision to enter the building earlier since they could not fully join the march. Most of the Stegadons went with the infantry but one held back in reserve along with the Troglodon. There simply wasn’t enough space for everyone. My brethren and I positioned ourselves to shoot volley of darts at a nearby flying machine while more distant spawning brother positioned themselves for what likely a suicide run on the relatively open warmachines in northeast.


    I set my Arcane Configuration to Light. My Shadow Slann gave away Melkoth’s Miasma and took Banishment from the Light Slann. I wanted my general to have a cheap Shadow spell in case he needed to bail with Smoke and Mirrors and the Shadow Slann had a good line up for a magic missile so it was an obvious trade for the toads. We rolled was 8 PD versus 5 DD. Shadow Slann casts Banishment on left-most Gyropter and got a great damage roll and killed it. I figured my Skink Priest was not long for this world, so I attempted an augmented Wind Blast to send a Gyrocopter careening into the Quarrlers but he threw all his dice at it to dispel it. I cast Net of Amytok at one of the cannons to prevent it from firing, but my friend pulled out his first spell breaker rune.

    My companions had just damaged the odd flying contraption with our special poison designed to harm flying machines (we have great apothecaries in Klodorex). Elsewhere, my brethren managed to kill a crew member of one of the hated cannons. The rest of the army could not shoot.

    Thankfully there were no melee combats yet.



    Dwarf Turn 1


    Most Dwarves did not move at all unless they could fly: they went everywhere. One flying machine lined up for a shot on what seemed to be nothing, but upon mystical scrying I saw that machine was actually aiming at camouflaged lizards. The largest flying machine flew over the large cohort and dropped an explosive device killing fifteen of the smaller lizards. The east most gyrocopter had flown deep into the reptilian lines an tried to drop a smaller bomb but they misfired and caused minor damage to the device.

    In the uneventful magic phase, I stored two dispel dice to use later with Reservoir of Eldritch Energy. This was the norm every magic phase and I was fortunate I never lost any stored dice.

    Two of my brethren were brutally boiled alive by the horrible flying machine's horrible steam. I love my spawning brothers, but this did not stop me from using their bodies to shield myself. Later a massive volley crossbow bolts came our way. They couldn’t see us but if you shoot at every square inch of a patch of ground you’ll hit everything there. They killed my other two brothers leaving me completely alone. My distant brethren fared little better, the Iron Drakes attempted to shoot them with their odd flaming blowpipes but they failed miserably. Then Organ Gun turned and fired. With the aid if their vile engineer, it killed four out of the five of them.

    The rest of the infantry fared better. Typical, they always give us Chameleon Skinks the dangerous jobs…Various small arms fired killed a single Temple Guard of the Light Slann. The other Organ Gun killed a single bodyguard of the Shadow Slann. The two units of Thunderers all opened fire on the large Cohort of worker caste Skinks. One unit of shooters did nothing and the other did quite well killing two Skinks and a Kroxigor.

    Mahrlect the artillery is powerful! I was heartbroken at the damage the Stegadons suffered. I had no idea how much worse it would get later. The eastern most Stegadon was moderately wounded by a cannon ball and was then finished off with a shot from a Dwarf catapult. Another cannon ball was shot at our Skink Priest’s Stegdon. The Dwarfs must have aimed fairly high because the shot plowed into howdah turning our poor priest dead into a greasy smear but barely wounding the Stegadon at all (and somehow missing the four crewman altogether). Priests are intelligent but lack common sense. Why couldn’t you hide wherever they hid! What arbitrary rules that cannon balls are magnetically attracted to you! The mighty beast was struck by the other catapult but it was still alive. The third final cannon attempted to finish the poor beast off but the shot fell short.


    LM Turn 2


    My Light Temple Guard and the nearest Steggy (the badly wounded one) to them had a Gryocopter right in their face. I could have had the Stegadon fight the Gyrocopter alone since charging with the Temple Guard would have exposed their flank, but my Stegadon had one wound left, so I didn’t want to risk the Gyrocopter winning. I figured charging the Gyro with the Light Slann bunker was the lesser of two evils since being flanked by non-elite Quarrelers wasn’t that scary to me.

    The Shadow Temple Guard and Green Sauri moved forward. The left most Skink Skink Skirmishers positioned to shoot the Gyrocopter which moved behind my main line. The reserve Stegadon moved to help, since he didn’t have much better to do. On the right center my blue Sauri advanced and my Troglodon and a Stegadon pointed their selves at the Gyrobomber. On thefar right, my Skink Skirmishers advanced,

    I set the Arcane Configuration to Shadow. Magic phase saw 12 PD dice versus 8 DD. I used the Burning Alignment with two dice to hit two Gyrocopters, but I failed to inflict any damage. I rolled 4 dice for Pit of Shades and got Irresistible Force. My template hit the Organ Gun and the building with the cannon in it, auto-killing both. I rolled Magical Feedback and took no damage but bit deep into my power dice pool effectively ending my phase since the Dwarves now had 8 dice against my four. I expected the Tannery building to take some battle damage. What I did not expect was for the building itself to be perfectly undamaged while everything inside was sucked into a dark vortex of oblivion. I am never EVER going up against the Lizardmen.

    At this point, the other survivor and I should have been scared, but we were too angry to be scared. Unfortunately our darts could not penetrate the thick armor of the Dwarves. The Sotek Skinks did much better. The ones in the southwest were able to throw enough javelins to jam a flying machine’s gears and send it crashing to the ground. The other Skirmishers managed to damage the explosive dropping machine slightly. Some of the Stegadon crews attempted to throw javelins at things, but they all missed. The Troglodon spat a glob at the largest flying machine but the acid went wide.

    Impact hits alone kill the copter, the TG can’t reform because of PF but they had to overrun but they only moved a quarter an inch bumping into the Stegadon.


    Dwarf Turn 2


    Most of the Dwarves stayed put, but the Longbeards on my left charged into my Shadow Bunker. The Gyrocotper was going to position itself kill off the Chameleon Skink that was fated to be our narrator, but my two other friends were watching our battle and they both pointed out that T4 notwithstanding, the nearby block of 30 Saurus Warriors and a Scar Veteran was a much juicier target than trying to seal the deal on a unit that was barely worth more than 1% of my points.

    I cached two dice in the magic phase per usual.

    The Dwarfs on the eastern flank decided to remove the Stegadon threatening them. Twenty Thunderers opened fire at the glorious beast but all failed to penetrate its thick hide. The cannon did far better taking it to death’s door allowing the Organ Gun to finish it off. This denied the worker caste Skinks their potent of Warding. Two Skinks were slain by the other thunders and the remaining Kroxigor was wounded slightly. One of the flyers killed a handful of Sauri with its vile steam.

    Praise the Old Ones, despite their much vaunted runes, the remaining cannon jammed and a catapult missed. The other catapult slew the badly wounded Stegadon that had once bore our Skink Priest into battle. Denying the glorious Light Slann’s bodyguard their Potent of Warding. The Irondrakes killed for four of his guardians and the Quarrelers unimpressively slew one. The crossbow Dwarves clearly save their efficiency for the murder of gentle Chameleon Skinks…

    The Shadow Oldblood killed an impressive five Long Beards and the Temple Guard killed a another nine. Despite their giant pile of dice, high statlines, and Strength 5 hits, the Longbeards only killed 7 models. They had a Runic Banner that bestowed stubborn so they held.


    LM Turn 3


    TG charge a Gyrcopter that flees. They attempt to redirect into the Longbeard flank but my own Saurus Warriors made the wheel impossible. The Skroxigor charge Thunderers and took seven hits from the stand and shoot. What happened next was extremely unlikely in terms of dice rolls but very logical in terms of realism. I was scrying on the battle between the Thunderers and the mixed cohort of large and small Lizardmen. The gunnery sergeant screamed “Shoot the big one! The big one!”. All seven hits fell upon the Kroxigor and killed him with wounds to spare. Now it was 29 Skinks versus 20 gunners. Let the epic pillow fight commence! My Blue Sauri charged Irondrakes who killed two or three of them with Stand and Shoot.

    12 power dice versus six dispel dice but I had to use my Forbidden Rod and Shadow Slann got unlucky and took three unsaved wounds in the process…still worth it. I Cast Speed of Light on Saurus Warriors who were fighting Irondrakes, attempt to cast Timewarp on Shadow TG, but it was dispelled with dice. I cast Net of Amytok on cannon gets spellbreaker rune (not to self, if I want to draw out Spellbreaker Runes, go after the cannons). My Light Slann cast Melkoth’s Miasma on the Longbeard fighting the Shadow bunker barely avoiding a dispel with dice. I got an impressive -3 to their WS barely avoiding dispel. A one die Banishment spell cast through the Troglodon inflicted a single wound on the last Gyrocopter.

    My anger receded and I realized I was all by myself and surrounded by hostiles. I noticed that the Shadow Construct pit had erased all the nearest war machines so I entered the smelly building to hide—I mean set up a good firing position.. After this turn, I mostly forgotten about this Chameleon Skink every movement and shooting phase. From this point on I realized my true calling was as a chronicler, so I pulled out my parchment and began rapidly recording the details of this epic battle.

    My Spawning brother on the other side of the battle field was already a few feet from the nearest cannon so he opted not to move. The smaller Lizardmen with light green scales began marching through our village. The locals panicked and barricaded their doors, but the Lizardmen left them unmolested. Their counterparts on the other side of the field positioned right in front of a unit of Thunderers. Bold, but not unwise. One of the Horned beasts and the impressive looking beast with the unimpressive acting sailed dinosaur positioned themselves to threaten the last of the light flying machines with their feeble shooting attacks. The other horned beast moved to cover the Lizardmen leader’s unit and the green warriors with its protective magical screen.


    Troglodon and Stegadon both shoot at the Grycopter but fail to wound. Even a cowardly Skink scribe can’t ignore a Gyrobomber outside the window so he took a potshot at it. The more bold Chameleon Skink on the other side of the table managed to take another wound off the cannon crew. One crewman left…so close.


    In the pillow fight between the Cohort Skinks, I killed one Thunderer and lost two Skinks. I had lots of static CR, but the Thunderers were in range of runic banner that bestows Stubborn on everyone nearby. Basically the whole Dwarf center line got this along with the BSB and Ld10. My Speed of Light Sauri kill four Irondrakes and then lose two of their own. I won by a lot, but these guys are also in range of the blanket Stubborn banner, so they didn’t care. The Shadow Temple Guard and Old Blood killed eleven longbeaerds and lost five members. These Dwarfs had their own personal Stubborn Standard so they didn’t budge either.


    Dwarf Turn 3



    The crossbow Dwarfs charged the exposed flank of our leader’s body guard. The rune covered Dwarf charged my near suicidal spawning brother on the opposite side of the field. The fool finally relized that he needed to withdraw, but he tripped while running away and was trampled underfoot by the iron-booted Dwarf. The green Saurus Warriors were prevented from entering the battle by the positioning of the Shadow Slann’s bodyguard. They thought they were safe, but the relentless large flying machine (proxied ingeniously out of Legos) dropped another explosive device killing a handful of them.

    I cached two dice in the magic phase per usual.

    Dwarf artillery puts that of the Nuln to shame. A cannon slew a completely uninjured horned beast in a single hit. To add insult to injury, its firing trajectory managed to catch a one of the bodyguards of one of the odd floating toads on the way to the killing the beast. The surviving Organ Gun shot at the green Skinks slaying four of them causing them to panic and run. Lacking a better target, the Thunderers fired at their backs killing four more. The other Cannon shot at the last Horned Beast and wounded it seriously. The Grudge Throwers vowed to finish it off. The first stone deviated but the second one hit the beast square and slew the creature.


    The Light Temple Guard and Oldblood kill 8 Quarrelers losing 11 of their own members. This time, I’m the Stubborn one, so my Temple Guard simply shrugged and reformed to move their front to the attackers. The Blue Sauri fighting the Iron Drakes were still enjoying their Speed of Light but they struggled to penetrate the Irondrakes’ Gromil armor. I killed an Iron Drake, and I lost two Sauri. I won fight with lots of static CR, but the Dwarfs were Stubborn so it mattered little. In the pillow fight, my Cohort Skinks killed two Thunderers and the Thunderers killed three Skinks. I won with CR, but no one budged. My Shadow Slann bunker killed eight Longbeards, and I lost two Temple Guard. Again, Stubborn, so no one moves.


    LM 4



    My leftmost Skink Skirmishers could either shoot the nearest cannon or charge it. I opted to charge, and failed by a single inch. My fleeing Skirmishers on the right side of the table rallied. I figured this was my Troglodon’s last turn in earthly realm so I positioned him to buff all my main combats with his his Primeval Roar rather than set up a charge for next turn. My green Sauri did a swift reform to try move somewhere where they could actually help.

    I forgot to write down the power/dispel dice break down, but I cast Bubbled Speed of Light and the rest of my phase was dispelled.

    My non-forgotten Chameleon Skinks fails to finish off the cannon, but my Troglodon managed to spit a Gyrocopter to death. Huzzah! It did something.

    Primeval Roar plus Speed of Light equals carnage. My Shadow bunker easily finished off the remaining Longbeards before they could strike back and then reformed to face their remaining enemies. Speed of Light Saurus beat Irondrakes by a good margin but they still were in no danger of breaking. Skinks win pillow fight against Thunders by a modest margin, but they weren’t in real danger of breaking either.


    Dwarf Turn 4



    The villagers were all relieved when the Dwarf Slayers that charged into the pack “marauding” Lizardmen. I knew better. The skirmishers were not really doing any harm and the Slayers were very grouchy. Out of a massive army of Lizardmen, they only were able to fight its weakest element. The lizard hastily threw poisoned javelins killing three of the Dwarfs before they could even reach them. That cannot be the “glorious” end the Dwarfs signed up for when they took the Slayer’s Oath.


    Bomber kills a Shadow TG and positions to block them from going for the Slayers or Warmachines. Dwarf General’s unit positions to face my depleted Light Temple Guard.

    I cached two dice in the magic phase per usual.

    For the first time this battle, the Dwarf’s hateful shooting fell flat. A cannon ball barely nicked the Troglodon inflicting only a minor wound. Despite the protection runes preventing mishaps, the second cannon jammed and then exploded. I was pleased at this, but in hindsight I wish the cannon could have exploded before slaying all those Stegadons. Two catapults both fired at the Troglodon but only grazed the sacred beast inflicting minor wounds at best. The Organ Gun fired on the fleeing Sotek Skinks but their hearts weren’t really in it and they missed with every shot. The Thunderers were far more vindictive as they slew four.


    The Temple Guard and Oldblood killed ten Quarrelers and then the remaining Quarrelers wiped out the Temple Guard completely. Despite how exposed my Slann was now, I technically “won.” I also thinned the ranks enough that the Dwarfs no longer in range of the banner that bestowed Stubborn, but they were Steadfast now because my ranks were so depleted. dramatic sigh. My Blue Sauri killed three Irondrakes and took no damage (no breaking of course). In the pillow fight, my Skinks killed one Dwarf, and lost three Skinks winning combat with Static CR (still no breaking).

    The Daemon Slayer issued a challenge and the poor lizard chieftain had little choice but to accept it. He was then split in half straight down the middle. The village sings praises about the Dwarf winning the epic duel, but they don’t realize just how weak these lizard chiefs are. Still it’s not every day there is a battle right outside your window that you can safely view. The other lizards managed to bring down one Slayer and lost a handful of their rank and file members. I admire the little lizards. Despite being small and weak and horribly outclassed, despite seeing their leader rent in twain, these, creatures were emboldened with sort of insane courage and held their ground in the face of certain death. Remarkable!



    LM Turn 5



    The last Dwarf flyer was hovering right in front of the Shadow Slann’s body guard. What else could they do but charge the abomination? The surviving Skink chief in the eastern flank and the last surviving Sotek caste Skink decided to avenge my brave spawning brother and charge the runesmith who opted to run away moving much faster than I would have expected a stubby legged creature wearing heavy armor to be able to do.

    My Slann swapped Okkam’s Mindrazor and Birona’s Timewarp. I wanted my general to have two Shadow spells so he had two chances to escape with Smoke and Mirrors. Worst case scenario: I wanted to hold on to Birona’s Timewarp. Wind of Magic was 8 dice versus 6 dice. My Light Slann (I guess with two Shadow spells and two Light spells he’s a Twilight Slann now) successfully cast Melkoth’s Miasma the Quarrelers and used Smoke and Mirrors to switch places with the other Slann’s Oldblood Eternity Warden. He he he.

    Close combat, there was no unit champion left to take one for the team I was so eager to use the piranha blade on the Runesmith that I chose the Light Oldblood to issue a challenge. While I beat the Runesmith to a bloody pulp, the other Oldblood was only in base to base contact with the Runesmith he didn’t get to attack at all. Oops. Cohort Skinks killed four Dwarfs, Dwarfs killed five Skinks. Skink Skirmishers kill a Slayer but lose four of their own members, I got snake eyes on them for the second time in a row (but I only needed a 7 because the General had recently teleported nearby, but double snakes was still cool). My blue Sauri brought the Irondrakes down to the last man. Naturally the jerk held on with re-rollable Stubborn. My Temple Guard now had both Slann in the unit. They were so enamored that they were now guarding two Slann their concentration broke and they really tanked their dice rolls inflicting no damage at all. The Bomber pilot even took down a TG.


    Dwarf Turn 5



    Ironbreakers with General and BSB had just enough space to charge my two Oldbloods, Hammers did a sideways shuffle to position themselves for a likely last turn charge.

    I cached two dice in the magic phase per usual.

    I thought the Third Race had terrifying cannons before. After watching five ancient Stegadons die, I thought I saw all there is to see. The Troglodon was already wounded and suffering when it was shot once more. You don’t even want to know what happened to Troglodon: it shouldn’t have clenched.


    Sigmar help me! What was seen cannot be unseen. After I finished vomiting from watching the last of the large reptiles die, I turned to watch the rest of the Dwarf’s shooting. A Grudge Thrower killed five of the green lizard warriors. The other Grudge Thrower shot deviated and only slew one. The surviving Organ Gun killed the last skirmisher on the eastern flank and wounded the chief who unsurprisingly chose to flee. This was to no avail as the Thunderers once again reveled in the chance to shoot an enemy in the back and slew him.


    Luck finally ran out for my Cohort Skinks. They killed nothing and lost six models, fleeing eleven inches. The pursuers only rolled a 10 but they barely moved since they were blocked by a friendly Dwarf unit fighting my Sauri. I had 7 Cohort Skinks left out of unit that started with 67 (and two Kroxigor). My Blue Sauri easily killed the last Iron Drake, then reformed to face the flank of Dwarf general’s unit. The Dwarf General issued challenge, my Piranha wielding Oldblood eagerly answered it. I inflicted two wounds on the general then the General inflicted two wounds back. This was worrisome as the Dwarf Lord had six wounds starting out compared to my three. My other Oldblood killed three Quarrelers. The two Oldbloods lost combat due to a lot of static CR, but they were in range of my General/BSB so they held their ground. My Temple Guard woke up from their mesmerized trance and finally killed the irritating bomber. My outclassed Skink Skirmishers managed to kill another Slayer, but I lost five models. Actually, given that the Slayers are the heavy hitters of the Dwarfs, I expected them to kill the Skinks a lot faster. The Skinks’ insane courage couldn’t last a third consecutive round, so the Skinks ran off with the Slayers half-heartedly pursuing them.


    LM Turn 6



    My two Saurus Warror blocks charged the front and flank of the Dwarf general’s unit. Cohort Skinks got the necessary “3” (automatic 2, but with a Musician) to rally. Skirmishers fail to rally (not that I can blame them, that was a Daemon Slayer behind them). Since the flee move carried them over the Hedge Obstacle, they were safe from the Slayers now. The brillopad hedge was tall enough to block line of sight, so no follow up charge. They were also screened from all his shooters.

    Winds of Magic was subpar. Five dice versus three. I threw all five dice on augmented Pit of Shades hoping to catch two war machines with one spell, but it scattered way too far. If I was less greedy and targeted one war machine with the normal spell, I would have got it, but I tend to become a risk taker in Turn Six.

    Nothing could shoot.

    My Oldblood snuck an unsaved wound on the Dwarf Lord and was able to multiply it to three wounds. The Dwarf Lord failed to hurt him back. One wound left for both combatants, one round left. EXCITING. The other Oldblood easily splats the last two quarrelers. The Dwarf Iron breakers and runesmith killed a whopping two Sauri. I didn’t do much better. Two Saurus Warrior blocks with wide frontage only killed five Ironbreakers, mostly from the Scar Vets.



    Dwarf Turn 6



    Thunderers attempt a long-shot charge at the remnants of my Cohort Skinks. They whiff the stand and shoot, but the Thunderers fail their charge by a wide margin. Despite most of them running through a swamp, they lost no models. I asked my opponent why he didn’t simply shoot the Skinks and he pointed out that the Thunderers were previously in the way for the Hammerers to charge my Sauri. Good call.

    A Grudge thrower kills 4 out of 7 Skinks. They then succumb to panic. The Organ Gun tries to follow up, but they fail to get a single hit on 16 dice (they had to shoot through the forest so needed 6s to hit). The Grudge Thrower picks off two more Skinks leaving just the Musician. The Thunderers finish the job. The surviving Cannon fires at remaining at my remaining TG but the shot falls short.

    OB fails to wound General. General fails to wound him back. SOOOO CLOOOSE!!!! Other Oldblood had previously killed all eligible targets in base to base so he twiddle his talons. With the Hammerers flanking one of my Saurus blocks, it goes predictably badly for me. I killed 3 Ironbreakers and 2 Hammerers, and I lose 22 Sauri. My two Old Blood got snake eyes so they held, which allowed my Green Saurus Warriors to run away without being pursued. My Blue Sauri were less lucky. They were caught by the Hammers.

    Dwarfs got 3598. I got 2577. The outcome of the match was in dispute till the very last turn as I came very close to knocking out the enemy general in round six.

    The important thing is we both had a lot of fun.


    The important thing is the Slann have survived and I was able to write a detailed chronicle of the battle.


    The important thing is the Lizardmen and Dwarfs have all left and no Human lives were lost.


     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2018
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  2. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    Closing Thoughts/What did I learn?


    -Both me and my friend felt that many things that would be useful 6000 point game would not apply well in a non-grand army.

    -We learned that 12,000 points of models can fight on a 4 x 6 foot table with 7 buildings and still have enough space to maneuver normally, barely. Space was a bit tight but I felt more constricted in 2500 point games before. I would be willing to do a 6,000 point game on a standard sized table again, but we both agreed before we even go to 6001, we’ll use a bigger table.

    -I learned that despite this tactica being based on mostly theoryhammer, my earlier statement that Shadow and Light is “Strong Combo” is absolutely correct. It was highly useful and I didn't even get Pha's Protection and Light of Battle like I hoped.

    -I finally managed to remember Smoke and Mirrors when I needed it! In fact, part of the reason I had so many cheap characters was to give my Slann a cowardly escape route, but the fact that I was able to replace a helpless Slann with a potent Oldblood was even better. I’m am likely going to make sure all my future two-Slann armies have at least one Shadow spell between them.

    -I would not advise loading up a list with multiple near naked characters to serve as extra potent unit champions in a regular sized game, but it was very useful in this game. I could easily have used the points from my two Scar Veterans and Skink Chiefs to buy a whole new fighting unit but said hypothetical unit would not have had the space to maneuver. The Scar Veterans did almost as much damage as the Saurus Warrior blocks they were joined with. My Skink Chiefs were surprisingly useful. I passed quite a few leadership tests on the Skink Chief’s 6 that a regular Skinks 5 would have failed. I think my Cohort would have done much better with the addition of a single Skink Chief.

    -I was sloppy. Despite having two Skink Chiefs, I did not have the foresight to keep one near the Light Slann bunker when it was obvious an inconvenient overrun preventing a vital reform was on the horizon. If I try a similar list in the future I need to add more Skink characters or just keep the ones I have and play them less aggressively.

    -I was previously in the camp that did not believe the Poisoned Attacks upgrade for Cohort Skinks was not worth the points cost. I took it for this game primarily to have less models I had to pack, but I was never the less impressed with how much damage their attacks did. They still lost ultimately but that was largely to having the crap shot or bombed out of them. A regular Cohort would not have last that long having won far fewer combats. If I brought a single Skink Chief, I probably would have been able to beat the unit and turn the Cohort’s might towards his relatively exposed gunline.

    -A Slann and Tet is a much cheaper way to get two powerful casters than taking two Slann, but two Slann with Temple Guard provide two very solid anchors. 3500 points or less I’d go with a Slann and Tet for a magic heavy army, but at this massive point’s level, I think two Slann is the way to go (though one Slann would have probably worked too).

    -My five EOTGs saved the lives of many Sauri and Skinks with their Ward saves but I failed to pass a single Ward save for an actual Stegadon. I’m willing to call that a fluke. If I do something similar again I’m hoping to shrug off at least one cannonball. The Arcane Configuration actually helped me cast one spell successfully that I wouldn’t have been able to cast and prevented my Slann from fizzling out early in a magic phase. Not too shabby. The Burning Alignment bound spell was nice to cast with one or two dice but the Strength 4 hits were pretty underwhelming. I’m not going to bother with that bound spell much in the future unless I happen to fighting MSU style Elves or something similar.


    -My six dinosaurs did okay and they lasted longer than my Dwarf friend expected, but I left mildly disappointed in them. I didn’t take Salamanders, Razordons, Terradons or Rippers because I was worried they’d get shot up too badly before they could contribute to the battle meaningfully (also my dice luck with flyers is famously bad against Dwarfs). Next time I play a big game, I’m going to take some of the medium sized dinosaurs. This should take some pressure off the big dinosaurs.

    -My opponent did quite well with his air force. I had to make the hard choice between killing the gyrocopters in my face or the bomber in my backyard. I focused on the gyrocopters because I don’t like being redirected, but the bomber made me pay for that decision. Next game like this, I’m going to consider taking some flyers or Razordons to watch the skies for me. I used EOTG try to knock the Gyros out of the sky. That was serious overkill, only minimally effective and is probably half the reason I only managed to get a single Steggy into close combat.
     
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