I went with a small, weird army. 10 Marauders, no adds, 11 Chaos Warriors with Shields, Banner of Wrath (5+ Ward save in shooting phase) and Mark of Khorne, and 5 Knights with Mark of Tzeentch, Banner of Wrath (gives them Frenzy) and an Exalted Hero with the Axe of Khorne.
Fullur took a Scar Veteran on Horned one, 10 Skink skirmishers, 14 skink skirmishers, 8 Cold Ones, and 10 Chameleon Skinks.
I set my goals for the game:
1) Lose via Marginal or Solid Victory
2) Win a Challenge and Roll on the Eye table.
3) Get off a charge with my Knights
We had rough ground left and right, a hill in the left center of the field, a lake, and a forest in the center of my deployment zone. He won the roll so I had to set up first.
Putting the lie to my contention my opponent has always had a hill in their deployment zone, he did not in this game...not that it mattered since his range is only 12".
Anyway, I put my Marauders 10 wide facing the hill planning to put my Knights to their left and Warriors behind them. He planted a wide string of Skinks opposite the hill.
Put my Warriors behind the Marauders because I saw the Forest and if he had scouts they could get behind me and kill me without any danger...so now I knew my Knights had to go over there.
He spread out some more skinks and these were far enough to his left (my right) that I thought they would have little bearing on the battle. My Knights went beside the forest slanted towards my left. His Cold ones went in the middle, my Hero went into the unit of Warriors, his Scouts were able to hid along side the hill. I won the roll for turn and deferred.
Lizardmen Turn 1
He advanced his battle line, the Chameleons emerged from behind the hill. No magic, on to shooting. Fortunately, my Marauders served their role perfectly and were his only target. Unfortunately, he rolled 5 6s so already half my scree was dead...
Chaos Turn 1
I moved my Knights up a couple inches but did not want his Cold Ones getting the charge, so not super far. I advanced my Marauders and advanced my Warriors on top of the hill to face his skinks. 6 minutes, first turn over.
Lizardman Turn 2
He wisely maneuvered his Chameleons out of my LOS, slightly retreated his other skinks, no other movement. Shooting killed a Chaos Warrior and 2 more Marauders.
Chaos Turn 2
Charge! Both my Marauders and Warriors declared charges on his 14 man Skink line. Knowing he would not be moving his Cold Ones, I started maneuvering my Knights to hopefully get a charge on his other skink line.
He chose to flee with his skinks so my charges failed and I moved just 4". 7 minutes, 2 turns done.
Lizardman Turn 3
No charges, he rallied, lots of shooting, the Banner of Wrath was paying off. In retrospect, I should have given them the Mark of Tzeentch as well, though...4+ Ward in shooting would have rocked.
Chaos Turn 3
Okay, I have a real problem here. His skirmishing skinks can easily outmaneuver my Warriors, my Marauders will be dead in another turn, I will never be able to bring him to grips: what to do? Aha! IF by some miracle the Marauders could hold for but a single turn, I could charge his Cold Ones with my Knights.
Charge! Marauders into cold ones...hmmm...advanced my Knights and angled them, broke my General off and advanced him, spun the Warriors to face his Chameleons.
It was no surprise when both my Marauders whiffed and his General alone killed them so that plan failed.
Lizardman Turn 4
He shot down another warrior, maneuvered his Chameleons back out of my charge range, and...in THE key moment of the game...failed his Stupidity test. His Cold Ones awkwardly shuffled forward.
Chaos Turn 4
Charge! I charged my General and Knights. Unfortunately, the Stupidity meant the Cold Ones had gone far enough it meant I charged them in the flank. This battle was all but over already. With my Flank bonus, and him having just 2 attacking there and his General in challenge with mine, he could not win the combat
First, the challenge. This should be epic. 4 attacks needing 3s to hit..I managed to roll 2 2s and a 1. My one hit, my to wound roll was....another 1. He attacks back 4 times needing 4s...rolls 31s and a 2. His Horned One then attacks...and rolls a 1.
Pathetic.
I made up for it with my Knights. All 5 hit meaning I started with 11 attacks (I had a Champion) and Frenzy meant 16 attacks needing 3s to hit. I did miss 5 of them but almost everything that hit wounded. He saved a couple but I won the combat by 9. He broke, I caught him, his skinks fled lest I charge into them.
For all intents and purposes, the game was over here. I now had points, he had 1 fleeing unit of Skinks, one almost pinned and one out of position.
Lizardman turn 5
He failed to rally. Shooting missed.
Chaos Turn 5
I had a choice; pursue his unit or try to pin the Chameleons. I tried the latter and swung my Knights into line and my Warriors advanced.
Lizardman Turn 6
His skinks rallied, shooting time. I somehow saved all but one of about 5 hits on my warriors and also saved another hit on my General. Those saves would be big.
Chaos Turn 6
Could not bring him to grips, proved to far away to contest a table quarter. Game over.
Took us about 1:09 to play the game...
Victory or Death
Well, he had 2 table quarters and 40 points for the Marauders. Had he wounded one more Chaos Warrior, he would have scored another 150 or so. Had he put a wound on my General, he would have scored another 90 or so. As it was, he got just 240 points.
Meanwhile I killed his General and Cold Ones, 513 points. 265 points in such a small game is a massacre.
How did I do with my goals?
1) Epic fail. As far from my preferred outcome as possible.
2) Epic fail. Whiff, whiff, whiff. Challenges have not gone well for me. Going in with better WS, S, and Saves, I consistently fail to wound much less win.
3) Epic success. Great charge.
Recap
What went right and wrong? Fullur maneuvered very well almost the entire game. He was able to stay out of charge range with his skinks which meant his sniping was doing the job and winning the game for him. My only quibble with his maneuvering was if he did not intend to put his Cold Ones into combat then he should have had them where a failed stupidity test would not cripple him...but that is hindsight. At the time, his placement seemed good since it forced me to be careful with my Knights. I thought he had a rank bonus (he didn't) and knew he outnumbered me and had a standard, so starting a combat at -2 against a tough unit is not something my fragile Knights wanted to do, so his keeping them up there helped keep me from pinning his Chameleons.
Had he not failed his stupidity test I would have either lost to the sniping or had to let him charge me with his elite cavalry.
My small numbers meant pinning a small, fast-moving shooting force was all but impossible. I have said it before and will say it again...the Wood Elf Army would crush me almost every time.
That one failed Stupidity test combined with me saving just enough of his shooting wounds turned a game he could...and probably should....have won into a rout.
3 comments:
All in all a very enjoyable game. I felt like things were going my way (when they were) because I had been playing smart. When they went bad, well, chances are I am going to fail at least one stupidity test a game. That one just happened at the worst time. I think if I had played my 14 man unit of skinks a little better I might have saved the Cold Ones, but other than that I think I played it about right.
I actually did intend to get my Cold Ones into combat at first, but then as the game shaped up I realized that I would have to take the charge in order to get there. Frenzy for your nights meant you would never make a failed charge, meaning if my guys got within range you would get the charge. I thought a better use would be to keep your best unit from affecting the battle (admittedly by taking my own best unit out of it) since taking a charge from a unit with S5 and 15 attacks is suicide for anyone without a 2+ Ward Save and Regeneration. (possible slight exaggeration)
One note, I would wager that my General actually had a better Armor save than yours.
I just thought of the one thing that likely would have done the trick for me. If I had baited the charge with my 14 skink unit (the one on your right) and been ready to counter with a Cold One charge. Pitty I did not think of that on turn two.
excellent call on the skinks drawing the charge, particularly if you could find a way to get them to stick...admittedly tough to do in a small game like this, but in a bigger game if you have the right standard, maybe you could make them stubborn which would give them a good shot at holding me for one turn to let you not only get the charge but a flank charge.
And I agree....you were playing very well and would have won had you not failed stupidity at the moment you did. Your skink shooting army was the correct one to face me and did very well.
I could be mistaken, but I believe when fullur said "baited the charge" he meant to force you to charge with your frenzy, run away causing you to fail your charge, but leaving you in his charge range/path, thereby "trapping" you into his charge range. A good tactic against all, and a brilliant tactic against frenzied troops with only one viable unit in charge range.
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