2000 Points v. Lizardmen
Scenario: The Traitor! This is confusing...
"Befor ethe battle begins, each player gives a model from their most expensive regiment selection to their opponent (This could be a giant treeman, stegadon, etc.). In the event of two or more model regiment selections having the same cost, your opponent chooses which one will be used. This model represents a traitor to your army and the model that your opponent gives you is the traitor to his army. Each player deploys his opponent's traitor alon with the rest of his army, and counts the model as a member of his own army. Each traitor must be placed at the rear of any unit and will not fight. They will count as a model for rank bonus and will stay with teh unit at all times.
"Each army is out to slay the traitor to their cause, while trying to cause as much damange to the enemy army as possible. Please note that a traitor that leaves the table for ANY reason is considered to be slain!
"Note: If you plan on hiding the traitor model so far back where hte enemy can not get them, then your opponent should verbally abuse you for being a son of a yellow-bellied sissy snotling and give you a sportsmanship score of 1 because you deserve it!"
There are a few more things. If you slay the traitor, you get 300 victory points. The game is 5 turns of 2 hours. Deployment is allowed up to 18" instead of the usual 12". Also, any unit/model/whatever killed by the unit with the traitor in it gets twice the usual number of victory points. (This is to encourage you to bring the unit with the traitor into combat more, instead of hiding with it).
Confused? It works like this. My opponent had a stegadon (his most expensive individual unit model), so he lost it to me. My own most expensive model was a glade rider. I felt bad because it was only 33 points (vs his 200-something), so I offered to let him take a pegasus (worth 50) instead. He elected to take the glade rider.
Note that I wasn't nice enough to offer to let him take the stegadon and take a lesser model of his (a kroxigor, for example) instead. Perhaps I should have, but I hate stegadons so I couldn't see fit to do it. Perhaps I should have in the name of sportsmanship).
Anyway, once you have the traitor, he goes in the BACK rank of a unit of yours, and can NEVER fight (although the enemy has to roll to hit to hit him). The traitor is basically along for the ride, and the object is to kill your traitor in the enemy army while protecting his traitor in yours. Does this make sense? If not, go back and reread it. : )
Terrain: There was a forest on the left edge of the board in the center, with a hill about 2" to its right. There was a massively large hill in the center of the table, with a forest in his center-front deployment zone. There was a forest to the right of the hill (about 6" away)(and a hill in the right-rear of my deployment zone.
Armies: I had my usual army.
1 General with Hail of Doom Arrow.
2 Units of 9 Glade Riders with longbows
4 Units of 9 Archers
2 Units of 8 Archers
4 Units of 8 Scouts (2 including musicians)
2 Pegasi
His traitor in my army was a stegadon with 6 crew and the Banner of Might.
He had:
1 Slaan Master Mage-Priest with Blade of Ensorcelled Iron, Army Battle Standard, Amulet of Xapati, and the Jaguar Standard. Fielded in unit with saurus warriors.
1 Skink Shaman with Dispel Scroll
1 Salamander
1 Unit of 8 Cold Ones, including a skink hero with the Ruby Chalice and Biting Blade
3 Terradons with spears, poisoned bows, shields
2 Units of 6 Skink Skirmishers with Poisoned Bows
19 Skinks (inc Musician & standard) with 2 Kroxigors with poisoned bows.
13 Saurus Warriors with standard and champion (with enchanged shield).
My traitor in his army was a glade rider (fielded with his saurus warriors).
Deployment: Because of the forest in the center of the battlefield, he had to setup his troops in two halves. On the left half, he set up his salamander next to his skinks with kroxigors. Skirmishing in front of them was a unit of skink skirmishers.
In the forest in the center he started with a unit of skink skirmishers (to keep me out of the forest, perhaps). On the right, he started with his big slaan/saurus unit, and the cold one riders on the very right flank.
He deployed my glade rider traitor in the back of his saurus unit.
My own deployment was my pretty standard Orion's Spear formation. I began had my archers in a big line across the back, and a glade rider unit on each flank. The right-most archer unit was up on a hill in a two-rank formation, and had the Stegadon in their rear rank. (In this way if I defended I'd get high ground for +1CR, and an additional rank. Not that I wanted to allow him to get to me). My general was placed in an archer unit on the center-left side of the field, with the pegasi near him. 1 Scout unit went on the far left corner of the board next to his deployment zone, while the other three went on the far right to threaten his Cold Ones.
Strategy: My own strategy was to kill the Cold Ones as fast as I could. I knew that wouldn't be easy because the Ruby Chalice was in their unit, but I figured I'd manage it fairly quickly (love that T2). I then planned on moving that archer unit forward to the right of the forest, while he brings his Saurus unit down to the left of the forest. (Or better yet, distract him from ever coming toward my side of the board with the scouts).
I also planned on shooting his saurus unit full of arrows as best I could, so I could kill the glade rider traitor.
I also realized very quickly that putting the stegadon on the hill may be a bad idea. I could be assault of stoned easily that way. Hmm, perhaps I'd have to move him away quicker than I planned. But not if the Cold Ones can charge me. Hmmm! Something to consider as the game progresses...
Wood Elf-1: We win the die roll and go first. The right-glade riders advance and prepare to fire. I decide not to employ the pegasus strategy this early in the game, as I'm tired of having to shoot at enemies at close range. If I use them when they're closer, I may be able to do more damage. I may also need them as they approach the stegadon on the right side of the field.
We draw back our bowstrings and open fire! 5 left-side Skink skirmishers die in front of their skink/kroxigor unit. The salamander takes a wound, and one of his crew fall dead. Two saurus in the big slaan/saurus unit also fall over. Four Cold Ones die as well. My opponent grimaces, but realizes the damage would have been a lot greater if not for the Ruby Chalice. Unfortunately for me, everyone passes their panic tests.
Lizardmen-1: The lizardman army marches foward as fast as it can ('cept the terradons, which move alongside the army). The Slaan activates his jaguar standard to get a few extra inches of movement. Magically, the Slaan attempts to cast the temptest, but I am luckily able to drain magic. (Whew!)
Wood Elf-2: The Glade Riders go double-speed and move bweteen the Cold Ones and the Slaan/Saurus unit (thereby preventing both from marching while moving out of any charge arc). The glade riders on the left do a double-move and end their turn behind the skink/kroxigor unit, threatening to charge it from the rear.
Our army opens fire! The salamander takes a second wound while its crew is instantly killed along with 7 skinks in the skink/kroxigor unit. Three Cold Ones are killed (that damned hero with the chalice being the solve surivivng guy). A terradon is killed as well. The two surviving terradons fail their panic test, and fly westward across the battlefield and landing on the hill in front of their forest.
During the shooting phase, we had a rules dispute of sorts. The Glade Rider (on a cavalry base) was in the back rank of the saurus unit (with their infantry bases). I argued that because it was a bigger base than the unit it was with, I could pick it out for archer fire. He argued that I couldn't. He did let me take one round of fire, all of which missed. I decided that was an omen that I shouldn't fire at the guy like that. And I realized that it was kinda unsportsman for me to shoot my guy dead like that, considering he he'd have to figure out how to get that Stegadon off the field...
Lizardmen-2: The Slaan activates the jaguar standard again, and the saurus unit moves forward a bit more than a normal move. The Cold One advances as well.
On the left, the kroxigors seperate from the skink/kroxigor unit, and the skinks go into skirmishing formation. I questioned the legality of this, but he said he contacted GW before the tourney and they said he could. I figured it would make it easier to kill them all, so I didn't argue. The kroxigors moved up to the left side of the house, and the skink skirmishers all turned to face the glade riders along with the solve survivor of the left-skink skirmisher unit. The terradons rally.
He skinks fire into my glade riders, killing one of them. The salamander fires into the general's unit, killing two archers and hitting the general (forgot the look out sir roll). Fortunately, he doesn't wound the general.
Magically, he casts assault of stone on the hill with the Stegadon & archers. We decided to randomly allocate wounds (1-3 archers, 4-6 stegadon). 5 Archers are killed, and 2 Stegadon crew die as well. We pass our panic test.
Wood Elf-3: the Glade riders on the left side charge his mass of skink skirmishers (including the one surviving one). The Glade Riders on the right side of the board charge the terradons who elect to flee.
The scouts on the right move foward to continue firing at the Cold ones and Saurus units. The scout unit on the left also moves forward. A pegasus flies and lands directly in front of his saurus/slaan unit (he's about halfway to my line by now and in short range - time to slow him down).
We open fire! The General lobs the Hail of Doom arrow into the two kroxigors, killing them both. The salamander is killed as well. On the right, we only manage to kill 1 saurus (bad rolling), and don't hurt the Cold one Rider. (Get this! -1 for teh scouts moving, -1 for long range, -2 from the ruby chalice, and -1 for an individual character. We needed 7's to hit him! Ack!!).
Hand-to-hand produces better results. The Glade Riders wipe out six skinks, who only manage to kill 1 of us in return. Their standard gives them an extra point of CR, but they still fail the panic test and run. (I forgot to collect the standard as a trophy for 100 vps at the end of the game). We zoom after them adn run them down. The skink shaman activates the escape card and reappears on his end of the battlefield.
Lizardmen-3: The Saurus/Slaan charge the pegasus, easily killing it. The Cold One Rider doesn't want to risk me standing and shooting with my three archers, so he elects to move 2" away from our archers/stegadon traitor instead. His Shaman marches towards the nearest woods and ends the turn on the edge of them. The skink skirmishers cover the rear of the saurus unit, protecting it from archer fire form my scouts and glade riders.
He fails to rally his terradons, and they fly off the board.
Combatwise, he easily dispatches the pegasus (but only gets to move 1" during his charge). Magically he casts Fiery Convocation on the Archers/Saurus, but we manage to dispel it. He then casts Assault of Stone on the hill, killing the three remaining archers and all but 1 stegadon crewman. The stegadon takes 2 wounds as well. Unfortunately, the initiave of the Cold One is high enough that he doesn't take any damage.
Wood Elf 4: A quick survey of the battlefield reveals their army is all but completely destroyed. The Saurus unit is left, although mauled and is going to be shot at something fierce. The slaan is alive and unharmed, but not close enough to charge anyone. The shaman is alive as well, but I miss seeing him during my survey of the field as well (since he's by a forest and standing next to a tree).
So we elect to close in on the Saurus unit and shoot him as best we can while the stegadon makes a run for safety. The scouts all move toward the saurus, except for the two scout units with musicians which make sure they don't leave the enemy's deployment zone (gotta get that +1 tourney point, y'know!). The second pegasus flies in front of the saurus unit again, preventing it from moving forward more than 1". The stegadon, freed of the restricting movement of being in an archer unit, is easily able to move out of the charge arc of the cold one hero.
Everything else opens fire on the Saurus and the skink skirmishers. 4 Skink skirmishers die instantly, causing the two survivors to panic and run. This leaves the saurus open to being fired upon. We fire into them and kill 7 more.
Lizardmen-4: The Saurus/slaan charge the pegasus and kill it. The Cold One Hero charges into the flank of one of my archer units. The two skink skirmishers fail their rally test and continue to flee. The skink shaman ducks deep in the forest and hides for all he is worth.
In combat, the slaan/saurus easily dispatch the pegasus. The Cold One hero kills 4 Archers, but we luckily pass our break test (on a 4!).
Magically, the casts assault of stone on the hill. It rolls far enough to slam into the stegadon, killing the remaining crew and knockin it down to 1. We roll on the crewless monster table, and come up with a "1", the worst possible result.
Wood Elf-5: As with the 1 result, the stegadon heads for the nearest table edge and vanishes (+300 points to my opponent).
Having his saurus unit surrounded on multiple sides by archers, glade riders, and scouts, I am faced with a decision. Do I fire and hope to kill the traitor when it gets randomized? Or do I charge in and hope to break the entire unit (+3 CR for the flank/rear attacks) and kill him that way.
I elect to charge, but don't forget to reform my skirmishers into unit formation for terrain purposes.
We do the quick Cold one combat first. He easily kills 3 archers and I break.
Just as we begin rolling the important combat, the judge comes over and announces time is up and the game must end IMMEDIATELY!!!
We declare the game ended, but out of curiosity decide to finish the combat anyway. Good thing the judge came over - the combat went dismally. We killed the traitor, but were mauled in return (forgot that saurus get 2 attacks). Both our units lose the combat, break, and flee. Bleh!
End of Game.
Victory Points:
We add up what we killed. I got...
Terradon - 127.5
Cold Ones - 200
Skink Skirmishers - 32
Skink Skirmishers - 32
Salamander - 90
Kroxigors - 90
Big Skink Unit - 115.5
Terrain - 200
For a grand total of 887.
He gets...
300 - His Traitor off the board
88 - Archers
100 - Pegasi
For a grand total of 488.
Game Result: Victory! I win by 439 points.
Analysis: Boy did I get lucky! Not only did I make the worst possible tactical decision in the universe by charging his saurus unit (what was I thinking! He has T4, I have S3), but I had failed to remember that any unit that the "traitor unit" breaks is worth twice the point value. He'd have earned almost a thousand points had we had time to finish that combat. That would have taken my victory and turned it into a loss!
Not to mention that with all the shooting I could do, there was probably well over a 50/50 chance I would be able to bag the traitor. I should never have risked it by charging in. I thought I was being "sportsmanlike" by gambling and "having fun with it." In reality I was throwing away a perfectly good victory.
Memo to self: Demote General Biellan back to corporal for his disasterous blunder.
Outside of that, everything went quite well. That damned Cold one unit soaked up more fire than 500 Skaven Slaves, but we did manage to kill all the rank-and-fire so we got their victory points. Perhaps charging them with a whole mess of glade riders might have been a good idea. Although perhaps not, at least not without lances to boost my initial strength.
Strategically, except for my final error things went very well. We mopped up his army really well, and scored a very legitimate victory. The General probably didn't need to fire his Hail of Doom Arrow at the Kroxigors. They were way away from me, and I'd have almost certainly been able to kill them with normal archer fire. He should have moved towards the saurus and launched it into them. I was feeling cocky though, and got carried away.
Other than that, things went extremely well. I pulled of a glorious victory, assuring I'd be up against a tougher opponent in my next game...
Next Up: Forced March vs. Vampire Counts!