Warriors of Chaos verus Lizardmen

Brought in my 2250 point no Special Character, no Dragon list. First up (and ultimately only up) I would face the mighty Lizardmen.

Our field had a tower in one corner and forest in the other in one deployment zone. In the right center of the field (from the side I would eventually get to choose) was some very difficult ground protected by some hedges. Meanwhile, in what would be my deployment zone were a hill on the right and shallow stream on the left.

This would ensure a compact deployment in the center of the field for me. With 6 units, some would be deployed behind others due to the crippling nature of the stream on one flank and rough ground on the other.

Ultimately, I decided to anchor one flank with Shaggy (my Dragon ogre Shaggoth, who has developed the unfortunate habit of dying every single game) and the other with 3 Dragon Ogres, a unit I was trying out for the first time. This gave me M7, S7 or S8 models on each flank, so monsters held no fear for me. Then I had to decide; the infantry blocks I desperately wanted to get into battle in front and the mounted troops behind or the Marauder Horsemen and Knights in front and the Marauders and Chaos Warriors behind. I honestly did not know which I would choose until I dropped the Horsemen in the left front of my line.





This basically locked me in to putting cavalry in front. Lizardmen armies essentially have to fight battles from 12" in due to their short range in firepower. So I could charge after they shot.

Meanwhile, Fullur spread a skink skirmish screen across his front, temple guard with Slann in the middle flanked by big Saurus blocks on each side, backed up by an Engine of the Gods and a unit of Terradons. Finally, he put a Skink Priest and small unit of Chameleon Skinks by the tower on my left flank.



By the way, about this point I wished I had gone with an early permutation of the list involving 3 blocks of infantry, 2 Marauders and 1 Warriors that I discarded for need to include a scroll caddy. I would love to have a game where Marauders go against Saurus and Warriors against Temple Guard. Oh, well.

He won the roll and elected to go first.



Lizardman Turn 1

He advanced the skinks a rather interesting 5", the 3 infantry blocks moving up 4". The Chameleon Skinks marched into the rough ground and his Skink Priest showed he could fly, heading to the stream on my left flank for cover.

The Terradons, for the express reason that, "because they can and I think it is fun", flew into the forest. This, by the way, is the type of play that makes me love our Team Starving Crazed Weasels gaming group. It really had no bearing on the outcome, but did reference and earlier rules discovery and discussion, and added some "color" to the game in a fun way.



He starts throwing magic around; gets off the spell allowing d3 re-rolls, adds 2. Then the skink on the Engine cast Celestial Shield on the Skink Screen. I had nothing it would affect, but he did not know that. Then the Slann cast Guardian Light with irresistible force. Had he not done so, i would have used a scroll, because psychology was going to matter I think.

He then casts Burning Gaze at Shaggy, but rolls a measly 3. He picks up the 1 and re-rolls it using one of his 2 re-rolls...and rolls a 1 again. Shrug, pick up the "2", re-roll it...and it is a 2. Yeah, that helped...and really set the tone for a game that would be full of wacky rolls and goofy but fun moments.

No shooting, he passes the turn.

Warriors of Chaos Turn 1

Mithridates (my General) sends the Marauder horsemen off to the left flank...and I make a serious mistake. I thought about going after his Skink Priest, but then remember how deadly Chameleon Skinks are...scratch that, WERE in 6th edition and go after them.

I have not used much Fast Cavalry, so think I hit on 4+ all the time more or less, forget to make it 1 harder for them being Skirmisher and a further -1 for being Chameleons. I roll 4 dice, 1 wounds, he is down a Chameleon.

Everyone else marches up the gut, though not their full range, most about 6-7". Like chess, I control the center of the table and am out of his charge range...except the Skinks who I will happily let charge me if they choose.

I then roll my 3 Power Dice trying to Dispel Guardian Light, needing an 8...and roll a 7. More on this in the next magic phase.

Lizardman turn 2

The Skinks advance to get in good shooting position on the Chaos Knights, the Chameleons advance to get close to the Marauder Horsemen. He advances the 2 Saurus units, but leaves the Temple Guard, trying to draw me in and get some flank charges.

His terradons fly over the Dragon Ogres, landing right behind them on my right flank.

His Skink Priest on my left flank continues to wreak havoc behind my lines, flying behind the Marauder Horsemen.



Magic

This time, he remembers to have the Engine of the Gods make the Lore of Heavens one easier5 to cast. Ironically, had he remembered this in the first turn, nothing else would have been successful for him...but my Dispel attempt would have succeeded. So his "error"worked to his advantage.

The Skink on the Engine tries the lethal Comet of Cassandra next to my Knights, but the casting score is not high enough. The Flyink Skink casts 2nd Sign, this time adding 1 re-roll...but taking 2 dice to do it. Another intriguing moment.

The Slann tries Burning Gaze against the Dragon Ogres, I roll dice and Dispel it.

In the shooting phase, the Chameleons twice wound the Marauder Horsemen, and I save but one, taking my first casualty.

Then his 10 skinks fire on my Knights...and fail miserably, garnering not a single hit. His Terradons will make up for it.

Not with their rock-dropping; they drop 8 rocks on the Dragon Ogres. Only 3 hit, just one wound goes through. But he then throws his Javelins,hitting 4 times, uses the re-roll which fails, of the 4, 3 wound, I save just 1 and take 2 wounds on my trial unit.

Chaos Turn 2: Time to get down to business

I turn Shaggy to charge the skinks, knowing they will flee and I will end up in his Saurus furthest off to my right. The Dragon Ogres, having circled the fence, charge, catching his Saurus flank. The Knights, having the Banner of Rage, have Frenzy and also charge the skinks.

And he makes the interesting (and probably correct) decision to let me hit his skinks, thinking it will redirect the charges, I think. *

This time I send my Marauder Horsemen after the flying skink. My Magic phase is short; I dispel the Remains in Play Celestial.



The Marauder Horsemen are deadly. Of my 4 attempts, needing 5s, 3 hit and all 3 wound...his priest is dead.

While the skink had done no actual damage, he had been a headache, as I thought he could use the skink to hit me with a magic missile cast by the slann, which could have hurt, coming from behind. Later conversation indicates this may not have been possible,...but it affected my thought process. The Marauder Horsemen were proving their worth!

Also, the possible worth of cheating...I think his Priest was in the stream, and if so should have benefited from a -1 to hit for soft cover. D'oh! My Horsemen look good when I play by my own rules....

Anyway, the mighty Shaggoth reels off his 5 attacks...and only 2 hit, though both do slay skinks. The Knights have a mighty 19 attacks, need 3s...and hit 13 times. The 7 dead skinks, horses finish them off, over-run...and the re-direct has mixed results.

Shaggy hits his Temple Guard head on, not getting into the juicy Saurus combat. The Knights hit the Saurus head-on...and since that is a fresh combat which has not been fought this turn, they get to immediately fight another combat, pursuant to the (cheesy) rules since the Dragon Ogres had yet to take their turn.

This just in, Knights are AWESOME and when they get to fight twice a turn, bad things generally happen for the enemy.

Mithridates challenges, the Saurus champ accepts, for the first time ever I get overkill, hitting just half of my attacks, but all 3 wounding unsaved. The other Knights kill 5 more Saurus, the horses kill another; Diphratus (the army Battle Standard Bearer) kills 2 more, the Dragon Ogres go 5 for 5, hitting 5 times and killing 5. That is a whopping 16 dead Saurus in one turn. He flees, the Dragon Ogres follow and catch him while the Knights...well, they run into the Shaggoth and stop right there.



Furthermore, the angle they are at combined with the width of his base means they will not be able to charge the Temple Guard next turn.

This was a very mixed turn for the Lizardmen. On the one hand, they lost a unit of Skinks and a unit of Saurus, and Shaggy got the charge on the Temple Guard.

On the other hand, ONLY the Shaggoth hit the Temple Guard, the Knights and Dragon Ogres are out of position, and my Warrior and Marauder blocks are still half way across the table.

Lizardman Turn 3
This was his most effective turn of the game, and it cost him heavily. (When I posted the photo below, I noticed how heavily...had I not moved the Knights, he very well might have flank charged THEM instead of Shaggy...which changes everything said below)



He moves the Engine of the Gods into ideal position. They are behind the Dragon Ogres, no charge there. He is close to the Shaggoth, who is locked in combat with the Stubborn Temple guard (who have a re-roll, making them effectively Unbreakable). Finally, he is close to the Chaos Knights, but because of positioning, the Shaggoth keeps them from chargin. In other words, his Burning Alignment will hit my 3 best units...and the Knights include my General and Battle Standard Bearer...while being in no danger himself.


Furthermore, he flies his Terradons behind my Knights for some fun little poison javelin throwing action.


He does make one choice I might have done differently; his remaining Saurus unit has a choice between dealing with my Marauder block or re-forming to flank charge Shaggy.

I personally would have gone after the Marauders; the Saurus would have forced them to choose between going with Shield for a 5+ save after strength modification, but only wounding on 5+, or having no armor but using their Great Weapons to wound on a 3+. Either way, the Saurus will have a chance of striking the Marauders and doing lots of wounds which force break tests.

At the same time, if he can break the Shaggoth, he will flank the Knights and possibly win by Static Combat Resolution.

I think he underestimated the power of a Stubborn with re-roll LD9 model and he later admitted as much.

Be that as it may, they reformed to get the flank charge next turn and the Chameleons moved forward.

Now for the magic phase, where he effectively lost the game...by being successful.

The Engine went with Burning Alignment and it was brutally effective. The Dragon Ogres take 3 wounds, killing one and leaving a second with just 2 wounds left. It doesn't touch the Shaggoth...but it does wonders against the Knights.

I had a large unit of 6 which, when the 3 characters were included, was really too wide because for some inexplicable reason, I went 8 wide with them. This made them hard to maneuver. It was a mistake. Fullur corrected that for me, killing 3 Knights with Burning Alignment.

Now, on the one hand, that was brutal. I just lost half of a 355 point unit in one moment with no way of stopping it or saving against it. It was proof to me of just how good the Engine is against my armies (seeing my Dragon Ogres going down did not hurt with that perception...they were taken specifically to deal with stuff like the Stegadon).

On the other hand, taking 2 Knights off one end and one off the other end...meant I now was not blocked off by the Shaggoth. So his greatest success turned into a Pyrrhic victory. I almost named my General Pyrrhus instead of Mithridates...oh, the irony.

Well, after seeing that damage, I figured this was going to be a key turn in the game. If he could break the Knight unit, it would mean the Shaggoth would probably run as it was the Standard that made him stubborn and with "only" 5 attacks, facing a unit with 3 ranks, outnumbering, unit standard and BSB in the Slann/Temple Guard, he was guaranteed to lose every combat even if he killed with every attack so it was vital to keep him next to my standard. I could not afford for it to run.

The Skink Priest on the Engine, emboldened by the carnage he had wreaked, unleashed Uranon's Thunderbolt on the hapless Knights...another d6 S5 hits with no armor save? Uh-oh...but he failed to meet the casting roll. Whew. Relief.

He cast some Blinding spell that would reduce the Shaggoth's attacks to WS1. I used my first Dispel Scroll. (probably a mistake:I should have saved it for Uranon or the Comet). He cast the lighter Magic Missile and I used all my dice to Dispel it. He then failed to cast Guardian Light and I used my last Dispel Scroll to stop Cleansing Flare.

Which left him plenty of dice to try the Comet which, to my tremendous relief, failed to get cast.

So magic was survived in what I thought would be the key turn.

His Chameleons then wound my Marauders thrice (including 2 with poison), I fail 2 tests and see a couple of them die.

The Terradons only get one poison attack through on the Knights which I save.

The Engine, still flush with success, poisons my Dragon Ogres twice, I save neither, and he kills a second Dragon Ogre in the same turn.

On to close combat. Shaggy goes ballistic, hitting 4 times and killing all 4, leaving only his unit Champion to attack back. The Champ shows why he is a champ, hitting three times and wounding twice, neither of which I can save. I then roll a 10...fortunately, my BSB is right there so I get to re-roll, and this time pass handily.

The Battle Standard Bearer paid for himself right there.

Warriors of Chaos Turn 3
No longer impeded by the Shaggoth, the Knights have a choice; flank charge the Temple Guard or go after the Engine. I do not want the Engine roaming around casting Burning Alignment, so I choose that.

I continue advancing my Marauder and Warrior blocks up the center of the table, my Marauder Horsemen ride over to reintroduce themselves to the Chameleon Skinks, and now they are inspired.

This time I DO take into account the penalties for Skirmishing and being Chameleons...and in 3 shots, score 2 6s, both of which then kill Chameleons.

Epic Close combat:last time I got into combat with a Skink Priest on an Engine, I had a daemon Prince with 5 WS8 attacks at S5. In 10 total rounds of combat (9 consecutive) I did a combined 1 wound. I never did wound his Stegadon or any skink rider. So I knew this wound be tough.

Fortunately, Mithridates was tooled up. He had 6 attacks with Frenzy, all would hit on 2+, wound on 2+ with a -3 to armor save, and on any failed wound, the Skink would have to pass a toughness test or else die...and do a S4 wound to everyone on the Stegadon. I liked my chances.

Of course, I then hit slightly less than true percentage, getting three hits through. Unsurprisingly, I wound all 3 times. He rolls three dice needing 5s to save...and saves them. All three. Every. Stinking. One.

What? Does taking a measly skink and throwing him onto a Stegadon give him the special rule, "Darth Weasels' killing machines cannot harm you, ward save 0+, cannot be modified in any way"? SO FRUSTRATING!

But not as frustrating as poor Fullur found it. Because my Chaos Horse, with just the 2 attacks, hits. Now, needing 3s to save....he fails them both and his Skink Priest dies, removing the Burning Radiance with it.

Whatever. Mithridates cannot touch you, but a weedy mount takes you down?

My Knights were similarly effective, with 4 of their 7 attacks hitting and, in a fit of great dice rolling, 3 of them wounding the Stegadon. He saves just 2 of them. Diophantus the Battle Standard Bearer hits 4 times...and fails to wound any of them. I had all the horses attack the skinks, and one skink went down.

Now he attacked back. The Stegadon wounded the Knights twice, but I saved them both. One skink somehow manages to get a wound on a Knight, but I save that too.

Save this moment;
He needs insane courage, does not get it, breaks, flees just 6", but that hits the dragon Ogres and he is destroyed, while the Knights pursue...but run into the Temple Guard. Since that combat has not been fought this turn, they immediately get to fight again. For those counting at home, this makes 4 times in two turns the Knights have fought which means the battle is going great for me.

Mithridates kills 4, his mount another, Diophantus continues his incompetent ways, hitting just once (though that kills) and his horse equals him by killing another temple guard. The Knights wound 6, he can save but 1, the horses wound another three, he saves just one. I have killed 14 Temple Guard in one frenetic, furious charge.

He gets to attack Shaggy next because Shaggy has a Great Weapon. They hit 3 times, wound once, and needing a 5, Shaggy saves. I am getting more than my share of rolls. Shaggy goes after the Champ, hits and wounds with all 5. Good night.

Remember that moment I said to save/ Lets re-examine it. He remembered at that moment that the Stegadon was supposed to be stubborn which means that, although he still failed the first roll, his second roll had included 2 dice totaling 5, so he should still be there.

I am a big fan of competitive games, not a fan of routs. Myself and Fixed Dice had to argue with Fullur at this point that the proper thing to do was put the Stegadon back in combat and put back all the casualties done to the Temple Guard.

Fullur, who is playing the Lizardmen, is arguing that he should pay the penalty for forgetting.

After much debate, and him saying that if the Steg stood, he still thinks the game is in doubt, we finally convince him to return it to its position and undue the ridiculous damage that should never have happened.

I am glad he did. Made for a much better game I think and I think it was the right thing to do in the spirit of Team Starving Crazed Weasels. I am very against cutthroat competition (ironic, I know...see regurgitation) and very in favor of doing whatever it takes to make the game better and more fun for both players.

So now it is Shaggy taking the break test since even with doing 1 wound (it was not a challenge, so no overkill). And for a second straight turn he fails it, rolling a 10 again. And again I pass on the re-roll allowed by the BSB being right there.

Lizardman Turn 4
His Saurus now flank charge the Shaggoth. He has taken three wounds, showing he is killable. He cannot attack both units well enough to kill every Saurus in contact. This might be the right play, but only if he gets it done this turn.




Meanwhile, his Terradons fly behind the Dragon Ogre, he does not move his Chameleons.

The magic phase is now more manageable. I killed both his Skink Priests, removing 4 or 5 dice from his pool. I also removed 3 or 4 spells he could cast from his options...though he still has some stuff that can hurt me.

His Magic Missile kills a couple Marauders. Slowly but surely he is whittling that unit down. He heals the Stegadon and I have to save my Dispel Dice. Boo! That thing is so hard to wound in the first place! But I really did not mind...it would make for a good battle I think.

I had to Dispel Dazzling Brilliance so now he is unopposed...and promptly fails to get either Cleansing Flare or Guiding Light cast successfully. It it wasn't for bad luck, he would have no luck at all.

The Terradons twice wound the Dragon Ogre, but he saves both. The Chameleons hit the Maraduer Horsemen three times but cannot wound even once.

Close combat; the charging Saurus hit just 2 times, just 1 wounds, I save it. The Temple Guard hit 4 times but fail to wound at all. At this moment, the game essentially ended because now his Saurus were in deep, deep trouble. Shaggy strikes back, 5 hit, 4 wound, 4 dead Saurus. Did not go after Temple Guard because I figured the Saurus needed to start losing rank bonus. This time I passed my break test outright.

Mithridates opened up a can of whoop-smurf. This was the guy I thought he was, hitting the Stegadon 5 times and wounding it 4 times...noe of which were saved and I promptly forgot to have him take a T test. Which I am okay with. Mithridates horse killed a skink for good measure.

Diophantus continued to prove he is no Mithridates, hitting just twice, wounding once, but it was saved. The Knights wound the Stegadon a further 3 times, 2 are saved...but he only had 1 wound left and that killed him. Which is bad, because that was on the Lizardman turn...

Chaos Turn 4
The Marauder infantry charges his Saurus in the flank. That would be the Saurus who are flank charging the Shaggoth is is frontally facing the Temple Guard...who then get rear-charged by the Dragon Ogre and flank charged by the Chaos Knights.





And it was ugly for the Lizardmen. My Great Weapon wielding Marauders kill 3 Saurus. Mithridates kills 4 Temple Guard, Diophantus chips in his usual 1, the Knights kill 1, the horses another 1, the Dragon Ogre kills just 1 (what? 3 attacks at S7? Whatever :-) . The Saurus and Temple Guard hit Shaggy 6 times, wound him 3 times, he saves 2 but takes another wound. Only one Marauder falls. Shaggy kills 4 more Saurus.

Now comes a dissapointing moment. The Saurus, needing insane courage, obviously fail both rolls and flee 6". I decide to restrain the Marauders. He then rolls Insane Courage for the Temple Guard...who were testing on a Stubborn 8 or 9 on three dice. If those rolls reverse, who knows what his Saurus could have done since they would attack the Marauders first, so might have not been attacked again...as it was, I think I somehow contacted the Temple Guard, though I am at a loss to explain how.

Lizardmen Turn 5
The Terradons see the combat and decide it is not complicated enough, so they rear-charge the Dragon Ogre who is rear-charging the Temple Guard that are being flank charged by the Chaos Knights and fighting the Shaggoth to their front (and soon the Marauders as well), the flank charge on Shaggy having just been seen off or the Marauders would have been flank charging a flank charge on a front charge matched by a flank and rear charge that was being rear-charged. That might be the single greatest situation in Warhammer history...




The fleeing Saurus are trying to figure out the ramifications of this and decide it is too difficult, so sp they roll 6,6,5 and run right off the table. Whatever. Fullur just cannot roll dice against me...

Well, he gets Blinding Brilliance off against the Chaos Knight unit, meaning Mithridates, Diophantus, and the 3 remaining Knights have WS1 this turn. Including horses, that means I will have 27 attacks needing a 5...so I should "only" hit him 9 times this turn. Kind of says something about how bad they made the Lizardman "elite" infantry. They still expect to lose lots of guys.

Anyway, he casts Cleansing Flare on a 13. I ponder for a long time; this will hit the Dragon Ogre, Chaos Knights, Shaggoth, and Marauders. I have but 3 Dispel Dice...okay, I will try to stop it. I roll...a 12. it wounds the Dragon Ogre once, kills a Knight, does 4 wounds to the Shaggoth and for the fourth straight battle (and 5th time in 7 outings), the Shaggoth dies.

Burning Gaze hits the Chaos Warriors three times, but did no damage. It would be the only action they saw in the entire game. He then got off the spell that makes his units within 12" Immune to Psychology.

His Chameleons then prove their worth. they have 6 shots needing 4s to hit. Taking a cue from the Saurus, they roll about 5 3s and a two, producing no hits.




His Terradons proved more formidable than I would have thought. The riders of course do little, wounding just once which is saved, but the mounts wound twice and I save neither. Dragon Ogre is one wound from joining Shaggy in the dead pile. But first he wounds the Terradons twice.




My Marauders wound the Temple Guard 4 times, and three are killed. And my mighty 9 hits? Well, actually, Diophantus hit once and failed to wound...and nobody else even hit! Epic fail...not that it mattered. Static combar resolution alone meant he would lose the combat. So it was a good time for it and proved the power of the blinding spell.

The Temple Guard hit the Marauders three times, wounding 2, 1 of which I saved.


Warriors of Chaos Turn 5
Not much to do. My Marauders are locked in a shoot-out with his Chameleon skinks, my Warriors are caught in the middle of the field with no viable opponent (they are within charge range of the Temple Guard, but the entire frontage is covered) and everyone else is in that epic duel.

So I (barely) Dispel his ItP spell.

Mithridates kills 3 Temple Guard and his horse kills the last one. This is bad because with no Temple Guard, the Slann is now alone and not Stubborn. The Marauders wound him 5 times; his Ward Save saves 3, Regeneration another, so he takes a wound. His Terradon then kills my Dragon Ogre which, ironically, removes the Terradons from the combat since they were only touching the Dragon Ogre...

Well, the Slann breaks, flees 10", my Marauders pursue just 7" and the Knights 6. Yes, the Marauders outran the Knights. Good stuff.


Lizardman Turn 6
The Slann rallies. The Terradons make a suicide charge into the Marauders.

The Slann heals himself with one spell. Casts Burning Gaze, wounding the Knights twice and making it so Mithridates and Diophantus no longer have a unit to join, so now they are just independent characters. Who happen to be deadlier than elite units.

Dazzling Brightness fails...which he was sad about because all game long he had been trying to mis-cast.

Which Cleansing Flare promptly does...and he uses the Cupped hands to transfer it to my Wizard, but the result, even after re-roll, is simply a wound which does not go through. So anti-climatic...

The Chameleons do manage to hit the Marauders twice, wound once, but I save.

The Terradons cannot even wound the Marauders. Whatever. I manage to wound the Terradons twice, howe3ver...they flee and are done.



Warriors of Chaos Turn 6
Diophantus charges the Slann, and in a surprise move, my Marauder Horsemen charge the Chameleons who hang around to see what happens. I have no idea what I did with Mithridates.


Diophantus has his best turn of the game, wounding the Slann twice unsaved. the Slann needs Insane Courage (I guess I must have charged my Marauders too)...and gets it!

The marauder Horsemen wipe out the Skink Chameleons.

The game ends with his Slann bravely facing about 18 Marauders, 13 Chaos Warriors, 3 Marauder Horsemen, Mithridates and Diophantus. He did a LOT of damage in this game...but so did I.

Conclusion/Regurgitation

First, what went right. Which was everything.

Diophantus, while completely useless in close combat (despite having 5 WS7, S5 attacks, he averaged about a wound a turn, killing just 1 Skink, 2 Saurus, and putting 2 wounds on the Slann) is almost game-breaking. When fields are set up so I can keep my important units within 6" of him...which is not all that hard to do...they are functionally Unbreakable. Killing Chaos Knights, Dragon Ogres, and Dragon Ogre Shaggoths to the last man can be done...since every one of those I had did die in this battle. But it takes a long time and lets them do a lot of damage in return. In future games, if they have the option, they should definitely target him as, if I take him, he makes the army over-poweringly strong.

Shaggy was awesome. He killed 2 Skinks, 4 Temple Guard (including their champ or it would have been 8) and 8 regular Saurus, single-handedly holding up the temple guard for two turns while I finished off the Engine Stegadon.

Mithridates was awesome. He killed a Saurus Champ in a challenge, getting overkill. He killed the Skink Priest in a challenge (and I just, as I typed this, realized I failed to roll on the Eye table). He put 4 wounds on the Stegadon, killed three regular Saurus and 8 Temple Guard, plus a few skinks.



The Knights are always awesome, ringing up 2 wounds on the Stegadon, about 5 or 6 skinks, 6 regular Saurus and 3 Temple Guard.

And the Marauder Horsemen are tremendous as well. Their fast Cavalry antics wiped out his Chameleon Skinks and a flying Skink Priest.

I would even argue the block Marauder infantry performed at or above expectations. They are such a low-priority target...and rightfully so...that they were almost unscathed, were allowed to flank charge a Saurus unit, and even managed to hurt the Temple Guard.

So what did not work? Uh...uh...well, not enough to counter magic, which did kill I think all 6 Knights, several wounds on Shaggy, a couple Dragon Ogres, made one turn by my Chaos Knights/Mithridates/Diophantus combo worthless....

yet if we totaled up the points, I either won by Solid Victory or more.

Which means I really did have enough to counter magic. He threw everything he had at me and I survived long enough to do what the Warriors of Chaos do.

But that kind of points up the "what went wrong" portion of the proceedings as well. He deliberately went without Cold One Knights which was kind of him...but also sort of means I had a pretty bent, cheese-filled list. Yes, he killed all of my power units...but he never touched any of my characters and had nothing left to deal with my second line units. I think he played about as well as he could with maybe one or two things that, if done differently, may or may not have been better choices...BUT DID NOT MATTER. I would still have won handily.

On the bright side, I think it was still an enjoyable game and it had some truly memorable moments.

I loved certain elements of this game; Mithridates seeing his best shot laughed off by the Skink Priest, only to have the horse wound 100% unsaved....that was awesome.

The convoluted combat with my Marauders flank charging his Saurus who were flank charging my Shaggoth who was face to face with his Temple Guard who were flank-charged by my Chaos Knights and rear-charged by my Dragon Ogre was awesome, and it took up the majority of the game to resolve.

For the future, I think I might look into more big blocks of Marauders...strong enough to do damage when kitted up, weak enough to be taken out. I also might go back to more Magic. It is spotty, erratic, and when people are prepared, does nothing, and there is one army it means near auto-loss against, but I think it might make the Warriors of Chaos more vulnerable while still potent.

I do not know. Still toying with ideas.

I did love the Dragon Ogres, even though they ended up doing surprisingly little. They were a good choice, and had they gotten together with Shaggy, they might have been able to take out the Engine and leave the Knights free to go after the Temple Guard.

I think I am starting to not care for Lord-level characters as they turn the game into Hero-hammer. Yes, it was great watching Mithridates rampage. But at the same time...he did more casualties than a unit of 6 Knights. The Knights did not kill all 8 skinks, Mithridates had already killed a couple before they attacked but I did not write it down. He did more wounds to the Stegadon (4-2), more to the Temple Guard (8-3) and, if you take Overkill into account, more against regular Saurus (8-6). That is ridiculous.

Meanwhile, my hero level character, with a VERY impressive stat line of his own was not particulary effective in this battle...but could be.

Of course, the problem I run into is my Knights are considered by some to be Hero or Lord level characters on their own...as all Knights are on the verge of being, though mine are admittedly a hair better than any but perhaps the Blood Knights.

And if you start saying, "No Lord-Level", where does it stop? "Okay, then, no Knights." "Fine, no monsters (including Shaggoths, Treemen, ridden mounts)." "Oh, and no items that invalidate armor saves or make magic all but useless...and no spells like Infernal Gateway or weapons like Frost Blade."

Great, you take 10 Dwarf Warriors, I will take 20 Night Goblins, lets put them next to each other and roll some dice...not much fun.

Early on, someone said they thought every Warriors of Chaos game would be a Massacre, one way or the other. At the time, I had a couple games that were closer than that, and I disagreed.

But I have not been able to get the balance right and am starting to agree. What to do?

I am seriously considering shelving the Warriors of Chaos for a while. It would mean switching to Wood Elfs or Vampire Counts, since those are the two armies being used seldom or never. Or maybe the Goblins. But they, I think, are too weak. I will have to think about it.

I do not mean to sound like I did not enjoy the game. I did. I loved it. It was great fun with epic combats, classic mano a mano duels, and some thrills.

But I want my opponent to enjoy it to, and I do not know if I would enjoy going against the WoC.

Any way you look at it, I will be playing them at least sometimes. But I might look to go in another direction for a while, just to see if it can be more fun for everyone.

* Okay, major, MAJOR reassessment of this battle. When putting in the pictures, I noticed something I may (read "almost certainly") have done wrong whcih COMPLETELY changed the character of this battle. Look at the photo by the asterisk. It was when putting this photo in after writing the report that I noticed this.

His Skinks receiving the charge was brilliant...IF I did my charges correctly. I had to declare my Shaggoth charge on the Skinks, but could not declare one with the Knights because they had the Banner of Rage and therefore had Frenzy. That means the Shaggoth had to charge first.

No problem, I "wheeled" him at the beginning of combat so he would overrun into the Saurus my Dragon Ogres were flanking. No problem there.

But then I wheeled my Knights and charged at the same angle.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. As soon as Shaggy hit the Skinks, they should have "ranked up" facing him. Which means my Knights would have hit the Skinks in their "flank". Which means A) they would not have gotten as many guys touching the Skinks and B, more importantly, THEY WOULD HAVE OVERRUN INTO THE FRONT OF THE TEMPLE GUARD. Or at worst, still been stopped by the Shaggoth, but I think they would have been almost dead center in front of the Temple Guard, so their subsequent slaying of the Saurus on my right flank and then the Engine would not happen.

Okay, that HUGELY changes the complexion of the game. If I am in front of the Temple Guard, their armor save is 2 better. More might survive to hit back at the Knights. His Saurus unit might survive. The other Saurus unit might flank the Knights or it might become a blocking unit that keeps my marauders out of that battle...and would make the Chaos Warriors go a long, long way to get in position to charge. I am still Stubborn with a re-roll on a 9 with my Knights...but now I have to find a way to deal with his Engine which OWNED me while it had the Burning Alignment going.

So look at all the mistakes I made rules-wise which HUGELY impacted this game; Marauder Horsemen might kill fewer Chameleon Skinks which means they might do more damage. The Skink Priest in water, -1 for soft cover, may have survived for another turn or three and occupied the Horsemen attention, letting the Chameleons whittle down ranks of infantry marauders...who probably do not now get to flank the Saurus unit in front of the Temple Guard.

So maybe the army is not strong...my ability to not clearly think through the rules during a game is super strong.

Either way, I now feel horrible. My apology, Fullur. Lets call this one a Draw.

Oh, the Humiliation:Chaos Warriors versus Dark Elves

Battle report below after the fluff. I will separate it with helpful asterisk lines for those of you who wish to skip the fluff.

Among our gaming group there is a general consensus the Chaos Warriors are under costed and over powered. Since I am well aware of their flaws, I am the primary dissenting voice. Of course, since I am also the one who PLAYS Chaos, there is naturally a pro-Chaos bias there. 

Still, though I DO like their stat line, I do NOT think they are under costed. I actually think a couple of their guys are over costed. But that is just me. 

I also think they are saddled with unbelievably worthless units. The Forsaken are worse than the core Chaos Warriors but do cost the same and take up a Special Slot. The Hellcannon works as a Stone Thrower. My history with stuff that can scatter is that it does and very seldom hits what it aims at. Maurauders and Warhounds are "I have nothing else to use the points on so I might as well waste some" units. Chaos Spawns are uncontrollable, hence of quite marginal use.

At the same time they have some fantastic units. Chaos Warriors, if a bit pricey, are still capable of dealing out a lot of damage. Chaos Knights are right there with the Grail Knights for best close combat unit in the game. The Dragon Ogre Shaggoth looks like fun. Their Hero-level characters have stat lines that make them legit threats to other armies' Lord level characters.

Well, with that in mind, I wanted to put a weaker-than-normal army out there and see how it would do. If it won via massacre, I would give serious thought to not playing Chaos. My intention was to lose but keep it a marginal victory. A Draw would be better, a Solid Victory for him acceptable. The only outcomes I did NOT want were being on the wrong end of a massacre or for me to win.

Not that I COULDN'T win...but if I did, it would mean they were right. Chaos is too good. If I can put out an army with intentional gaping flaws and still win...then either my opponent sucks or the army is too good. On the one hand, a Chaos Army will always have a punchers chance...well armored, hits hard, so they can win even if they have a huge points differential, much less simply taking sub-standard units but having equal points. They never should lose the game prior to entering the table, good rolls can overcome that. No doubt the Chaos army IS very solid and capable of winning any game. But there are games they are definite underdogs, and that is what I was shooting for.

See, there is no shooting in the Chaos Army so any shooting army has a distinct advantage. A nimble, maneuvering shooting army such as the Skink Skirmisher army of doom or the Wood Elf army will cause this build fits. Even a Dwarf gun line would have a good chance.

Second, I had nothing to deal with magic. I had the 2 basic Dispel dice and nothing else, so I was very, very susceptible to magic. I carried none myself...no bound spells, no wizards, nothing.

As it turned out, there was a third flaw...but I did not see that one until later.

Well, my plan was changed slightly. I was waiting for Fixed Dice to reply to my e-mail asking him how many points he wanted to play while he was waiting for my reply to his e-mail asking how many points I wanted to play. I never got his e-mail and he never got mine. So last night we talked on the phone and came up with something fun. 

We would each make 6 army lists; 2500, 3000, 3500, 4000, 4500, 5000. We would each roll a d6 so one might end up with 2500 while the other had 5000 or some such wacky combination. 

Then we would roll for scenario, and if one army was significantly larger, would adjust the chart in favor of Ambush or Last Stand type scenarios.

My main problem was I wanted to use as many actual figures without proxying as possible. So I bounced back and forth between putting the finishing touches on another 5 Knights and putting together army lists. 

Did not glue the Knights together, only got 3 lists together. Grabbed the camera, off I went to his place for the game.

We then wimped out on our plan and went with 2500 points. Awesome.

*****************************************************************

The Army List (and the "thoughts" behind it.)

General

I initially went with a Daemon Prince. They can fly, have excellent WS and S, with the Mark of Teentch they have a 4+ Ward Save and they are the only model that can take the 2 best gifts of Chaos. Ironically, I then gave him Word of Agony, a much cheaper but potentially awesome Gift. I then reconsidered; I wanted this army to rely on its troops, so a single model pushing 400 points ran counter to that plan. Also, I wanted to put in another type of unit that he had the perfect base for, so I would use him for that instead. I tossed him out and started over.

I went with a basic Chaos Lord, gave him the Mark of Tzeentch, Talisman of Protection, and Sword of Change. He would have a 2+ save thanks to Chaos Armor and Enchanted Shield (1+ in close combat) and a 5+ Ward Save. The Sword of Change would give him a chance to defeat any opponent; they must make T test and if they fail it, become Chaos Spawn and are removed. That would give me a 17% chance per wound to defeat even a Dragon or some untouchable Lord character. Odds not great but that is what I wanted...a "punchers chance".

Wulfrik the Wanderer

I knew he would field Repeater Bolt Throwers. I suspected as many as 4 but knew there would be some. Wulfrik's ability to enter from any table edge gave me a chance to lessen their impact. At 100 points each, any conversation about units that are too cheap, to me Bolt Throwers are front and center. Hate them. Also, I figured he was my best chance to roll on the Eye of the Gods table.

Army Battle Standard Bearer

I wanted my units to be Stubborn so I gave him the Banner of the Gods which meant he caused Terror and all units within 6" tested as Stubborn. The plan was to put him between the Knights and Warriors up the gut of the field. As a general rule I don't take the Army Standard Bearer as they are relatively fragile and I have not found the banners exceptionally useful.

Exalted Hero

Gave him the Mark of Nurgle to make him harder to hit and gave him the Chaos Runesword which meant he had an awesome WS8, S6 and 5 attacks.

As you can see my heroes could all do serious damage in close combat. They were one of my goals for the game; roll on the Eye of the Gods table.

Core Units

2 identical units of 10 marauders. No upgrades. To keep with my theme of just one proxy, I could only take 10 each as I currently own only 20 Marauder models. When the unit is that small, points on Marks are basically extra free points for the opponent. Lt Armor and Shield is unbelievably worthless; the accursed and woefully under costed Repeater Crossbows of the Dark Elves have a minus 2 to armor save which means anything that wounds a Marauder removes its armor save so why take any upgrades to models that are virtually guaranteed to be casualties? (The irony of that line will be evident in post-battle mop-up)

(24) Chaos Warriors

I took a full command. I had been arguing they were not all that great with a high point cost and low mobility but still hearing they cost too little. So I decided to see if they could win a game. This would be the centerpiece of my army. I gave them the Mark of Khorne to give them Frenzy and the Blasted Standard to give them a 5+ Ward verse shooting. They could take some shooting on their way across the field but still get there with a rank bonus. 

(10) Chaos Warhounds

This is one of those units that I generally would not take. Like the Marauders they are virtually guaranteed to be casualties; low T, no save, low strength. But I planned to use them to go after the bolt throwers and soak up some shooting, plus they fit my idea of using units I typically would not use.

Special Units

I took just one, my beloved Chaos Knights. I have mentioned before this is my favorite unit to use. Knights. However, I decided to go a different route. I took 10 Knights, but instead of 2 5 man units as most people do (and should) take, I went with one 10 man unit. I really have no clue why I did that. I know they are going to take at least one casualty coming across the field which means they get no rank bonus and it means they cannot be in two places at once. Frankly, this was plain and simple a mistake, a brain cramp, a moment of stupidity. I have no explanation for that maneuver. 

Rare Units

I had purchased off E-bay a couple of painted Chaos Spawn. you can take 2 Spawn as a Rare Choice. As a general rule, expensive but fragile troops with a sub-par WS of 3 and no Save are an absolute no-no for me. Add the random nature of their movement and this is the type of unit that is so far from fitting my play-style they might as well be in a different army for as many times as I would play them. 

But they also fit my philosophies for this battle; with 2-7 attacks at S5 (Mark of Khorne) and being unbreakable, they could give me that punchers chance to take out even the toughest opponent.

Last but not least I took the one model I would proxy. This is why I did not use the Prince, so that model could be my Dragon Ogre Shaggoth. Fast, strong, tough, cause terror....they seem like a great model. With 6 wounds, S6, T5 and WS6 he should be able to at least get in a couple of wounds on a Dragon and take out pretty much anything else he came across.

Or not.

So my goals were four-fold:

1) Win a challenge and roll on Eye of the Gods table.

2) Watch the Dragon Ogre Shaggoth demonstrate his awesomeness.

3) See if any of the units like the Warhounds, Chaos Spawn, or Army Battle Standard Bearer would surprise me with their awesomeness

4) Achieve a Draw or lose via Marginal victory.

***************************************

The Setup

Here is where things started to go south. First, I noticed the Prince model was NOT, as I had thought, a Monster-sized base. So instead of the awesome Prince model, I went with an awesome but not as awesome primered Bone Giant model my brother was kind enough to let me borrow. *sigh*

I then noticed that my camera, which I had brought along to document the proceedings, was missing something. Namely, the battery sitting at home on the charger an hour drive each way away.

This, for those paying attention, is the moment I should have packed up and headed home. It was a portent of things to come. 

The field ended up being truly awful. (We roll on the 1995 Battle Book chart to see what is tabled). There were hills in both deployment zones and only deployment zone had a place for me to be out of sight of his Bolt Throwers while still providing me with the ability to move.

Roll to see who chose deployment zone. I rolled a massive 2. Sadly, that would prove to be one of my better rolls of the day. I hoped he would spack out and give me the side he was standing on. I could go to the far edge of the field from his Bolt Throwers and they would have at most one turn to shoot at me. Also, I could use the tower in the middle to protect one flank and the edge of the table to protect the other.

He rolled a 5 and did not, in fact, spack out so I got the bad side of the field.

He put some Repeater Crossbowmen on his left flank behind a fence. Great placement. I knew he would end up putting his Repeater Bolt Throwers on the hill on his right flank, so I put my Warhounds opposite that hill. 

He then put a second unit of the Crossbowmen in front of the hill. At this point I spacked out on my own. I had a hill to the right of my Warhounds, then trees, then space, then trees. For some yet to be explained purpose that made perfect sense when I did it yet for some reason I could not explain by the time it was my turn to place again...I put them in the space. Was I planning to put the Knights behind them and go up the middle of the field? Or the Warriors? Was I...well, i don't know. It was a stupid, stupid placement. They should have gone right behind the Warhounds because with those Repeater Crossbows out there, I would need a second screen.

He then put I think Cold One Knights on his left flank of the crossbows in front of the hill. I put a Chaos Spawn on top of my hill. He dropped a War Hydra on his extreme right, I put the other Chaos Spawn next to the first. His Repeater bolt Throwers went on top of the hill, my Shaggoth went behind the Warhounds. He placed his heroes, I put my Warriors behind the Shaggoth, a some point he put his Corsairs between the Cold Ones and the Crossbows behind the fence, I put the Knights by the hill behind the Warhounds. Wulfrik and a unit of Marauders would hopefully come on soon and hit the Bolt Throwers. I had high, high hopes for Wulfrik. I also named the General on Manticore with Hunter of Men.

We rolled to see who would go first. I rolled a massive 1. Yes, I managed to worsen my roll. On the bright side, it can only go downhill from here.  He rolled a natural 6 but elected to go second. Interesting...I would have thought he would want the extra turn of shooting. Perhaps it was because I was being a jerk and whining about "some day I will get to go first" since in my games I CONSISTENTLY lose the roll to pick table edge and go first. I suspect that is faulty memory...but it FEELS that way. I do feel bad about the whining, it was inexcusable and I hereby apologize for it.

Chaos Turn 1

I rolled a 2 to bring on Wulfrik. No problem, I only had  1 in 3 chance. I bounded the Warhounds forward the full 14", same with the Shaggoth, Knights, and Warriors. The Spawn moved a respectable 5 and 6" each. I cowardly turned my Marauders and moved backwards. No point standing there alone giving his orphan unit of crossbows a target. No shooting, no magic, go.

Dark Elf Turn 1

His dragon flew in from where it had hidden way off on his left flank. Uh-oh...I knew they moved fast, but this could cause problems! His orphan crossbows crossed the fence and started moving towards the battle, which would take place on my left flank.

His magic phase took as long as mine. His shooting, however, was deadly. His crossbows unleashed their hail. 10 crossbowmen killed 6 Warhounds. His bolt throwers did 3 wounds to the Shaggoth. His Dragon-riding dude wounded a Spawn. Ouch. That was a bad phase indeed. On the bright side, I accomplished a rarity...the Warhounds passed their break test. This would not happen again in the entire game.

Chaos Turn 2

I was tired of rolling high, so I rolled  1 to bring on Wulfrik. Then I started the key mistakes. We held quite a round-table debate about this later. It looked to me at the time like his dragon could get to my Knights in his turn which meant he would get the flank charge. I wanted to use the Spawn to protect my flank but did not know how far they would move...one reason I don't like or find useful random units that I don't control. Rules Error. I thought compulsory guys moved AFTER normal ones. And that is how I played it. 

I had to make a choice. I did not think I could get to his units before the dragon got to me. (Later post-game measurements indicate I probably was wrong...he probably would not get to me until the third turn. So I might have had one shot at his Cold One Knights before the dragon was upon me, though he probably would have gotten the charge. With S6 on the charge and my horrific rolling, I still might have gotten at least a few points. His decision to go second looks better and better)

So I moved my Knights and Warriors backwards, planning to use the table edge to protect my flank, my Warriors to protect my rear, and face the dragon charge. This would be a good test for another debate he and I have.

I believe unsupported heroes charging the front of units with advantages like Ranks and Standards can sometimes win but are more likely to lose the combat and flee. He believes heroes in that situation will, if not always, at least usually overcome even -4 or -5 deficits to win the combat. In this one, I would have a starting advantage of 4: +1 for rank, +1 for Standard, +1 for Battle Standard Bearer, and +1 for outnumbering. That would be worth postponing my full blown assault on his lines.

My Warhounds charged his Crossbows and my Shaggoth was out of range so moved towards his Hydra.

His stand and shoot killed the final 4 Warhounds so no close combat.

Dark Elf Turn 2

No charges. Orphan crossbows move closer, Dragon...flies BEHIND the Knights, a brilliant move. War Hydra breath, Repeater Crossbows and Repeater Bolt Throwers put more than the final 4 wounds needed on the Shaggoth. Cross #2 off my list of things to do in this game. 

This was a crushing blow to me. I really, really, really wanted to see him in action. Then again, units I really, really, really want to see in action have a history of disappointing me. Wardancers run off the field to Night Goblin Spearmen, Knights run off the field without taking wounds, Lever 4 Wizard Dragons (Galrauch) do more wounds to themselves than to the enemy...why should a Shaggoth be any different?

His General on Manticore put a second wound on a Spawn.

His Dragon breathed on the Warriors. His dragon has S4 breath to the S3 that my dragons get. Pouty face goes here. A couple of them died.

Chaos Turn 3

The game was essentially over at this point. If he kept flying his dragon around, I had 2 choices; keep maneuvering to avoid giving him the flank or rear charge or just give him the flank or rear charge and try to angle it so he did not pursue into my other unit(s). Either way, it meant I could never get to his peon units that were the ones I wanted to see if my units were truly super superior to. 

Remember the brain cramp where I took one unit of Knights instead of 2? Well, if I could have left one unit for him to charge and positioned it so either he charged that unit or, if my Stubborn unit held even to a flank charge (Battle Standard bearer was USEFUL!) then my Knights might have seen combat. Of course, 5 Knights into 16 bolstered by Malus is one of those things where I believe it is suicide and he believes it is an easy win for me...but I would have done it anyway even if he got the charge. 

On the bright side, Wulfrik did arrive this turn. I brought him on behind the Repeater Bolt Throwers. 

Meanwhile I moved my orphan Marauders into the trees. I would have one table quarter if he forgot about them. Pointless, but at this point I was really grasping at straws...and I had only lost 375 points completely, though a Spawn was close to dying. 

But I could already see he had the maneuver down perfectly. Fly from side to side breathing on me and keeping my Knights and Warriors out of action unless I wanted to give him the flank charge and follow-up into the other unit.

I did get the Spawn into close combat against his Crossbows, who easily passed their Fear test. And I rolled a mighty 5, giving me 6 attacks. Excellent!

Remember I said I seldom take guys with WS3? Well...2 of those mighty 6 attacks hit and, needing 2s to wound, did so. He did not or could not save. I had done 2 casualties! Excellent! He could not wound me back but did pass his break test.

Dark Elf Turn 3

Why charge when you can kill from a distance? He moved his War Hydra back to give him the flank breath, moved his dragon to breath on me, shot a lot, killed 5 Marauders with his Hydra breath and wounded my previously healthy Spawn with his General. On the bright side, his Bolt Thrower whiffed.

And I promptly rolled a 10 for my break test. Epic fail. But wait...Will of Chaos lets me re-roll Panic tests...is this one? Why yes...yes it is. And the re-roll....PASSES. Woo-hoo!

Meanwhile, the Spawn chips away, wounding another Crossbowmen or who outnumber him so the break test is manageable and they make it.

Chaos Turn 4

"Charge!" I actually have several charges. I had unattached my General and Exalted Hero from the Warriors a turn previous trying to position them to charge his dragon (I had also moved the Spawn into the mix. If that Unbreakable model could careen into his dragon, it could buy me some time to do stuff with my units) and the Battle Standard Bearer from the Knights. The Battle Standard and Exalted Hero got the charge on his Black Ark Corsairs. 

I declared a challenge, his Champion accepted. I killed his champ and got something like 2 or 3 overkill. My Exalted Hero had the best roll of the game for me. 5 attacks needing 3s...all 5 hit! Yes! I need just 2s to wound....and managed to roll 3 ones. Whatever. 

Add insult to injury; yes, I won a challenge...but Champions do not allow rolls on the Table.

We miscalculated and thought he had won the combat. I took a test...and failed it. Battle Standard Bearer was part of the combat, re-rolled...and passed. 

Even if we had correctly calculated it (he thought he had a rank bonus of 3 when he only had 2 and I forgot the +1 for Battle Standard...or ANY standard...)he would have been testing on a 9, so it really had no impact on the outcome.

Meanwhile the mighty Wulfrik, facing 2 hapless Repeater Bolt Thrower crewmen used his 4 attacks at WS8 and S5 to do a whopping....1 wound. I then had 5 Marauders attack and do....1 wound. 

Fortunately, he could not wound back. I did 2 wounds and out numbered him...break test at minus 3. I am feeling good. His first roll was for the one within 12" of the General...and that made the difference. He passed. Would have failed on his own. The other guy needed like a 5 and rolled...a 3. They both passed. 

I have to be honest. I thought Wulfrik was borderline broken. I thought he might be under costed at 185 points to have that great stat line and the ability to disrupt enemy war machines. Color me underwhelmed. He cannot even beat worse-than-average line troops when he has all the advantages. 

Dark Elf Turn 4

His general on Manticore charged on Marauder flank while the War Hydra charged the other. His dragon flew around breathing on the Knights while his rider shot the Spawn down. 

Wulfrik and the General entered a challenge. His Hydra killed the other 5 marauders. Wulfrik took no wounds. Awesome, here is where he could redeem himself. This was the challenge I set up with his Hunger of Men ability so I could re-roll to hit and had +2 Strength. I had 4 attacks needing 3s to hit and 2s to wound. 

Color me unimpressed by the zero wounds I did in the one hit (including re-rolls) that I got. 

And yes, I did fail the break test and run 2". And in one of those "rules so stupid they are unbelievable" things, with a Hydra on one side, a Manticore opposite him, a single Bolt Thrower crewmen on the third, do I run to the open spot which would lead them off the table, a happy occurrence for me since both the Manticore and Hydra would have to follow? No, I run "away from the highest unit strength" through the other...which should kill me, not allow me to pass through. That rule was idiotic when I benefited from it against the Brets and is idiotic this time when it...well, didn't really cost me since his Hydra and Manticore were done for this game, but the illogical nature of it annoys me.

Meanwhile his Dragon charged the rear of my two heroes. My Battle Standard bearer entered a challenge with him. Never lived long enough to strike back. My Exalted hero could not even wound his Corsairs. I fled...again, that retarded rule crushed me. Instead of fleeing to the open field to my right or left I fled "away from the highest unit strenght"...his corsairs. 

His Dragon had already moved. My Knights would not get flanked...unless, of course, my fleeing guy ran towards them. He was overrun by both the Corsairs and Dragon with the dragon easily hitting the Knights in the flank...the ONLY way that was going to happen. 

I finally broke his Crossbows with my Spawn and ran into one of his Bolt Throwers while they escaped.

Chaos Turn 5

 Lets see...Knights have been charged in the rear, Warriors are facing away from the Cod Ones who will charge next turn...okay, they reform, General joins them. 

Spawn kills Bolt Thrower, overruns into Crossbowmen, killing them, and ends up 1" from table edge. My first points of the game! Yay!

His Dragon easily dispatches my Knight Champion with lots of overkill, in a shock to nobody I break and flee the table. 

Dark Elf Turn 5

Cold Ones, Manticore, Dragon I think all charged the Warriors. Challenges ahoy. He wins them all, his Knights kill 4 Warriors, his General kills the Champion and in a major upset my General, with 5 attacks with the Sword of Change against his Dragon...does zero wounds. I flee, he pursues, I now have just the Spawn and Marauders on the table. 

Chaos Turn 6

Move the Spawn towards his other Repeater bolt Thrower. Need 6". Roll a 5.

Dark Elf Turn 6

His Hydra breathes on the Spawn or the Bolt thrower shot it or something.  Not much else to do.

End Game

I had 40 points left on the table so he killed 2460. He captured 2 regular standards and the Battle Standard, controlled 2 table quarters, killed my General. Somewhere well over 3000 points.

I controlled a table quarter, wiped out one Repeater Bolt Thrower, and killed 100 points of Crossbows. I got 300 points. 

Pretty clearly, I won this game handily...

Actually, he won because of these things; 

1) I had no way of coping with a flying unit that could get and use a flank charge. His Dragon alone was game-winning. 

2) I had no way of coping with either his Hydra or Manticore

3) He badly outmaneuvered me. His superior army composition combined with excellent tactical movement meant I never had an opportunity. He put his forces in position to be used at best advantage while preventing me from doing the same. 

He out-built my army and out-played me.

True, I suffered from a LOT of hideous rolls...the 3 1s needing 2s was not the only example, nor were things like his hitting 7 of 8 attacks needing 5s. He had some bad rolls as well.

The thing is, even if all those rolls were average for me, I still would have been massacred. His army and use of it were that much better than mine.

One huge mistake MIGHT have moved it to "only" a Sold Victory; had I properly moved my compulsory units first, I would have known how far to move my Knights. He would have had to charge the Unbreakable Spawn. He would have had to completely kill a unit with 3 wounds and T6 in one turn to flank charge my Knights. 

Had the Spawn held for even one turn, I would have at least had a chance to face his Cold Ones. However, if he got the charge it is unlikely I would have even been able to strike back as S6 means he would have killed many of my Knights. But perhaps not. And if I live even a single turn, I could conceivably do enough wounds to cause him some problems. 

Of course, with that said, he also would have had his General on Manticore available to charge so would I have survived that one turn? The Magic 8 ball just laughed.

I am actually happy with this game. It was very valuable from several angles.

1) We did a simulated battle between the General I first took and his Dragon. Had I taken that General, I could probably have staved off his Dragon for a turn or two. At the very least, my own flying super-dude would give me a way to counteract his flying around like that.

2) Yes, we are indeed in Hero-hammer. He who does not come prepared to deal with Monsters will lose every game, probably by massacre. 

3) Chaos is not over-powered in any way, shape or form. Their weaknesses are so huge that they might not be able to beat the Dark Elf army at all, they will struggle with the Wood Elf and Dwarf army, and should do very well against anyone else.

4) Though I know this will be controversial, I will say the most under costed unit in the game is the War Hydra, closely followed by Repeater bolt Throwers, Organ Guns, and Repeater Crossbows. 

5) I should NEVER, EVER, EVER under any circumstance get excited about playing a unit. I waited 15 years to watch the Wardancers suck giant hairy monkey underarm pit sweat,  watched "the best close combat unit in the game" run off the table without doing or taking a single casualty, watched my Power-Magic army get dominated by throw-away, out-level, out-powered wimp wizards, and watched my Shaggoth do nothing but die before getting a chance. That huge target drawback combined with hills always being in my opponents deployment zone means they are just too costly...not to mention the play-test battle we did between my Shaggoth and his Hydra. I outpointed him by over 100 and still lost the battle. Shaggpth; awesome concept, way over priced.Should not have gotten excited about it. I should know better.

But I will try the Shaggoth again. For that matter, I might even try a Chaos Spawn again.

Seeing the power of the flying unit, I think you may see the occasional Disc of Tzeentch in the near future. 

I am happy in that I am getting closer to my stated goal if 50% win rate. I am sorry that a game I wanted to lose caused me to react poorly. He deserved the win due to his build and play and it was extremely childish of me to react the way I did. I do sincerely apologize. I hope my attitude did not diminish your enjoyment of the game because you did a phenomenal job. I hope to see that army again because it should provide a good challenge for anyone and looked like great fun to play. 

Will I use Wulfrik again? Coin flip. Will I use 10 man units of Knights? Probably not. Will I use big Blocks of Chaos Warriors? Maybe in a GIANT game but otherwise probably not. Will I go back to using magic? Unlikely.