750 point Chaos v. Lizardmen

Running Weasel's head came around. Had...had the Slann just moved? For generations it had remained motionless, so long that none remembered its name anymore. No matter, it was the job of Running Weasel and, for that matter, all Skinks, to serve and protect the ancient and wise Slann, even if they did not know his name. 

Yet now...yes, there it was. The faintest flick of his smallest finger. Knowledge filled Running Weasel's mind. He spun on his heel and hurried off to do the Slann's bidding. A swift gesture brought 2 units of Skink scouts to his side. 

"The Wise One tells me there is evil afoot in the land. Go forth, seek out and find the intruders. I shall gather what forces I can and come to join you as swiftly as possible."

Without hesitation the skink scouts headed off in the direction indicated. Wasting no time, Running Weasel summoned whatever Saurus warriors he could find. As they exited the village he saw a Stegadon returning from a training session. He gestured the handlers to join him and headed off to see what the incursion consisted of.

It never crossed Running Weasels' mind that they might be facing a vastly superior force. No, the Slann had instructed him to find and deter the invaders lest the invasion grow in size, so that was what he intended to do, regardless of odds.

Don Killemall glanced at the questioner. It was Paolo. "What do I know of this land? Nothing, Paolo, except there are enemies to slay, loot to be had. That is enough.

Suddenly he drew rein. Ahead he saw movement. "It seems we have been discovered. " He gestured ahead to where strange creatures developed out of the mist. He looked to the left where the Made Men, without waiting for orders, had already begun a flanking maneuver. He smiled inside his all-encompassing armor. Well, time to see what these enemies were made of. He had no need to know who they were, the fact they were not his men meant they were enemies. 

Setup

This game started rather rugged. To see who put a piece of terrain on first, i rolled a 1. To see who picked side of board I rolled a 1. To see who went first, I rolled...a 1. Ugh. My opponent, Fullur, was playing 6th edition Lizardmen. Initially I planned to go with the Wood Elf army, but feeling bad because Josh would again be the Goblins, I went with having him play the Wood Elf army I had designed while I hastily threw together a Hordes of Chaos. We were playing 750 point games. At the far end it was Kevin and his Ogres against Space Monkey and Liam, his acolyte, playing the Dwarf army. In the middle was Fixed Dice and his undefeated Dark Elf army against Cris and his undefeated Vampire Count army. I would be taking another proxy Chaos army. Meanwhile, Josh and his Wood Elf army would play one of the first two to finish their game. (Chad had a birthday party for his mother in law so was not there, thus making the 4th table unnecessary.

I took an Exalted Champion on Chaos Steed, gave him the Mark of Tzeentch (Level 2 Wiz, lore of Tzeentch), the Golden Eye (3+ Ward v. Shooting and Magic Missiles) and the Sword of Might (+1S) giving me a close combat monster: WS 7, S6, T4, 4 attacks, and a 2+ Save (1+ in close combat). For spells he scored a 2 and a 6. The six gave him I think Indigo, the one that makes an enemy character take a test of some sort or disappear; mis-reading Orange Fire, I kept that and got rid of Indigo in favor of Red Fire (Magic Missile, 30", D6 S6 hits, cast on 5+). I thought Orange Fire gave a Ward save to the entire unit; nope, just the socrcerer himself. Stupid, stupid, stupid. 222 points of lethality nonetheless.

Anyway, my first core unit was 4 Knights with Champion, Mark of Tzeentch (+1 power die), and Standard Bearer with Banner of Wrath (bound spell, 24", D6 S4 hits). 242 points.

Finally, I took 4 Chosen Knights with Mark of Tzeentch (+1 power die), Blasted Standard (Bound Spell Yellow Fire, grants unit 5+ Ward verse shooting) 262 points

726 points

Fullur had a 2nd level skink priest w/Cube of Darkness, a unit of about 16 (?) Saurus Warriors, and 2 Skink Scouts, approximately 10/unit, about 730 points.

The field was crowded with rough ground to the right, a marsh in the center, a building to the left. 

I meant to put my basic Knights in front, the Chosen behind them, and put my general slightly to the right. Instead, I put the Chosen in front in some sort of brain cramp maneuver, then attached my General to the other Knights.

Fullur flanked his Scouts wide right, but the other unit had no place to scout so went on the left end of his battle line. The Stegadon was to their right (from his viewpoint) and his Saurus to their right.

Roll to go first, after my mighty 1, he won and elected to have me go first.

Chaos Turn One

I marched my Chosen ahead to the left. Well...I say "marched" but for whatever reason had 4" movement in mind so moved them merely 8". Then I walked my other Knights forward...again, 4", not 7". Not a good start. 

No line of sight for the Chosen, Cast Red Fire at his Saurus, he dispelled it. Orange Fire passed, but since it only affected my Wizard it was kind of pointless. My Banner was successful since he had used all his Dispel Dice on Red Fire. So I would get off some key magic, D6 S4 hits. Except I rolled 1 for how many and then a 2 to wound. Not a good start.

Pointless magic my old friend

you've come to mock me once again

Wasted points I will probably need

to defeat the stegadon mighty steed

Lizardmen Turn 1

He advanced his left hand (from his viewpoint) Skinks into the march, walked his Stegadon and Saurus forward, and moved his Skinks on his right forward to get line of sight. He cast some Comet spell I did not like the looks of so I Dispelled it, and then his roll to cast a protective spell on the Skinks failed. Good to see the awesome power of magic works for others as well. 

His Skinks shot at my Chosen just 10 times in order to take advantage of the poison weapons (since multiple shots would move him to needing 7s to hit, then 5s or 6s to wound.  One actually hit which automatically meant he wounded. But I saved, so no damage yet.

The Stegadon big bow shot at my Champion-attached unit with his big bow but missed.

Chaos Turn 2

I charged the skinks to my left with the Chosen. He elected to stand and shoot. My other unit plodded forward another 4 inches. Good to see I had already not figured out my mistake...

My Blasted Standard went first, he used his Dispel Dice. Bwoohahaha, get ready for the power of Red Fire! Except...he had the Cube which auto-Dispelled it. Even worse, he rolled a 4 and ended the Magic Phase. 

In his stand and shoot he got off the multiple shots since he had not moved, meaning he again needed 6s. 3 hit, but needing just 2 or better to save, I saved all three.

In close combat it was no contest. Between my mighty Chosen and the horses, 7 skinks died. He ran, but not far enough. I pursued, hoping to NOT be in the Skink Priest's line of sight, but the 8" over run left me right where I did not want to be... and overrunning a 70 point unit with a 262 point unit was not unexpected. He would have liked to do at least one casualty before dying, but eh...whatchya gonna do when Chaos runs wild on you?

Lizardman Turn 2

His Saurus reformed to face my Chosen. His magic all failed or was Dispelled (I see a pattern here...) His remaining Skinks opened fire on my Knights. Needing 2 2s or better to save, I did save...one of them. I had taken my first casualty. Fortunately, his Stegadon missed again.

Chaos Turn 3

I declared a charge against his Stegadon but failed my Terror test. Instead of getting my Exalted Champion and Knights into combat with a unit I really wanted to destroy, I fled towards the edge of the field, stopping less than 3" from the edge. If I failed again, even rolling triple 1s would mean I left the field with 464 points. That would not be pleasant...

Meanwhile, my Chosen had no line of sight, so simply reformed to accept the charge from his Saurus. With my General/Sorcerer fleeing, there was no Magic phase. Actually, that is not strictly true. My Bound Yellow Fire was easily Dispelled by his 3 Dispel Dice. Ironically, having no wizard was every bit as effective as having a Wizard and 6 power dice to go with 2 Standards.

At this point, things were looking pretty grim. I was one 9 or higher roll, or a 1 in 3 chance, of losing 2/3 of my army and was about to be charged by his best hand to hand unit. I was outnumbered and, with my Wizard fleeing, down to 2 Dispel dice.

Lizardmen Turn 3

To the surprise of nobody, his Saurus charged my Chosen. With my Knights so far away, he (wisely) elected to move his Stegadon towards my Chosen since he could not catch my cowards. He tried to cast the Portent of Afar on the Saurus but he rolled just an 8 on 3 dice which I was fortunate enough to match on my 2 dice. His Comet failed. Once again, magic does...well...nothing. Magic sucks in this game. Just sayin'.

His Saurus then unleashed a hail of attacks on empty air. He needed 4s to hit, had 10 attacks, and managed to score 2 wounds. But I saved both. I then slew 4 Saurus. Well, he had a rank bonus of 2 and outnumbered me so I won the combat by one. He needed a 7 to pass and rolled...a 7. Good rolling?

Not really. His best hand to hand unit, with all the advantage of charging, did exactly no damage to me. Not one casualty. His lowly 70 point Skink unit had done more damage at this point. The next turn I would have the first attack, he had lost one of his rank bonuses...suddenly it looked like he was the one in trouble.

Chaos Turn 4

Needing an 8 or below, I saw the first die drop on a 6. Uh-oh...the other one tumbled, rolled, sputtered...and dropped on the 2. Total of 8, I passed! 

I used my Standard to cast at his skinks. Fullur just let it go. At last! Successful magic! Here come D6 S4 hits on the weak little skinks. Roll for number...1. Roll for damage...rolled a 2. Wait...back on turn 1, did I not roll a 1 followed by a 2? Why yes...yes I did. Fortunately, this was against Skinks, so even the 2 killed one. Bwoohahaha, magic did some damage! I mean, sure, I spent 70 points to give my Champ the Mark of Tzeentch, 40 points giving it to each unit, plus the upgrades to standard bearers and the 2 magic banners, meaning I had, at this point, spent about 275 points on magic to kill one 7 point Skink...but it was totally (not) worth it! But wait, the magic phase was not over...Red Fire was cast with Irresistible Force. Bwoohahaha. D6 strength 6 hits. For how many I rolled...do I even need to tell you? I rolled a 1. To wound? Yep...I rolled a 2. For a third straight time when I successfully cast something I rolled 1 for how many and 2 to wound. Oh well, I doubled the damage I had done. Now I had done 14 points of damage with my mere 275 points spent. Magic is TOTALLY worth it.

Orange Fire was again successful. Of course, it is also pointless. 

Close Combat is where the Hordes did their nasty work. I killed 5 Saurus, he could not even wound with his Spear 2nd rank attacks. He ran, the Priest, within 6", also ran, I over ran his Saurus. 

Final tally: 2 rounds of combat, 9 Saurus slain, no Chosen slain. Their point total was pretty close to that of the Saurus, but it was no contest.

Lizardman Turn 4

His Stegadon charged my Chosen. With his priest continuing to flee, there was no Magic phase, and my Knights were out of range of his Skinks.

This time I passed my Terror test. He did a whopping zero Impact hits. (He rolled 3 5s, but needed 6s) He did a whopping zero hand to hand hits. I Almost killed a couple skinks, did a wound to the Stegadon, he broke, I over ran him.

At this point I would be able to charge his fleeing priest, leaving him 8 skinks against my entire remaining army so we shut it down.

Review

So what happened here?  After my third turn it looked like he was on the verge of completely massacring me. 2/3 of my army was at the table edge, ready to flee. The last unit was facing a frontal charge from his best hand to hand unit and the next turn a flank charge from a Terror causing Stegadon while his Wizard had essentially a free hand in the Magic Phase. One and a half turns later it was a complete annihilation the other way.

His poor rolling when he charged did him in. If his Saurus could have done even a single casualty when they charged they would have possibly broken the Chosen and changed the game completely. If I fail a 33% chance to fail roll, he can focus all the might of his army against one suddenly badly over matched unit.

However, his Saurus could NOT get the rolls they needed at a key moment and I DID get the key roll I needed at a key moment. As a result, he really had no chance.

Kind of indicates the Hordes may have been vastly over powered or else the Saurus were vastly underpowered. In the 7th edition book, we did a quick comparison of the new Saurus against the Chaos Warriors and think they have done some nice tweaks. The Saurus are cheaper, the Warriors more...and the Warriors are slightly better, but not so much so that the Saurus should be unable to do at least a little bit of damage. 

Hopefully next months game will see me have legit models assembled and painted and playing the actual Warriors of Chaos. We are shooting for a 2500 point game. I know Fixed Dice is excited as he has finished painting and assembling his gorgeous Dragon model, Fullur is excited to get his actual Stegadon model and some Terradons on the table, and I am excited to get Warriors on the table.

My preliminary plan is to have Galrauch as my General, a couple Sorcerers, a couple small units of Marauders to fill my core choices, and a couple units of Knights because, over costed though I believe they are in the new book, I love, love, love playing Knights. We will see how it goes.