I've been on a Fantasy kick since the release of the 8th edition rulebook and the last few weeks have seen me play a half-dozen or so games learning as I go, mistakes were made, there was wailing and gnashing of teeth, but now I think I got enough of a handle on the game to go big with nearly my entire army. Some Skinks were built literally minutes before being deployed...
So this was a massive battle that took well over 4 hours to play mainly because we rolled up Battle for the Pass and played length-wise down the board and I'm still pretty new to the game. Lots of maneuvering and not a lot of room adds up to lots of units that took a while to see combat.
Rhellion's Skaven have been 13th Spelling the local armys off the table including my Lizardmen in a previous 2000 point battle. Well no more! I was determined to put an end to this madness and give the Hypnotoad his deserved glory.
Life Star 3000:
Slann: BSB Banner of Eternal Flame (die HPA die!), Lore of Life, Cupped Hands of the Old Ones, Blood Statuette of Spite (forgot to use it), Focus of Mystery, Focused Rumination, Becalming Cogitation.
Oldblood: Gambler's Armour, Potion of Speed, Blade of Realty looking to sell some swamp land in Lustria...err... Blade of Realities.
Skink Priest: Engine of the Gods, Cube of Darkness.
Skink Priest: Displel Scroll.
Scar-Vet: Sword of Might, Enchanted Shield.
28 Saurus: FC, spears.
15 Saurus: FC.
15 Saurus: FC.
12 Skink Skirmishers.
12 Skink Skirmishers.
9 Chameleon Skinks.
3 Terradons.
8 Cold One Riders: FC, Warbanner.
2 Salamanders.
Pretty much my entire army save the Temple Guard who would pretty much be 13th Spell rats, so they sit this one out.
Rhellion's Skaven horde:
Grey Seer on Screaming Bell with Power Scroll, Dispel Scroll, 3 Warpstone Tokens
Warlord: Shield, War-litter, The Fellblade
Assassin: Weeping Blade, Potion of Strength
Chieftain BSB: Storm Banner
Plague Priest on Plague Furnace: Opal Amulet
2 Clan Rat units
1 Stormvermin unit
2 Skavenslave units
3 Poison Wind Mortar weapon teams
6 Gutter Runners
Plague Monks
Hell Pit Abomination
Doomwheel
Warp Lightning Cannon
All units had full command and at least 30 models plus other items on the characters I think.
THE BATTLE FIELD
The rows of gravestones counted as Ghost Fences. Scary! Mystery forests would be nothing and a Fungus forest which had no effect on the game.
DEPLOYMENT
Life Star: 28 Saurus with Oldblood and Slann. Scouts love this mission as we both set up behind the enemy army. Despite getting +1 I don't go first.
TURN 1
Brutal. My Engine of the Gods gets Warp Lightning Cannoned off the table. So cannons hit everything on a mount? 430 points poofed. 3 Cold One Riders shot dead by Doomwheel, handful of Saurus die to Poison Mortars... I was almost ready to give up.
My Chameleons kill the Warp Lightning Cannon. Revenge! Terradons crush the Gutter Runners with rocks leaving one survivor who breaks. During the game this little rat runs through Skinks, Saurus, and a Hell-Pit passing all DT tests, rolling a 3 to almost rally twice and finally runs off the board in turn 5. Slann casts Dwellers Below on the Stormvermin using 6 dice but no IF so it was scrolled. I cook some Stormvermin with my Salamanders. Cold Ones charge and see off the Doomwheel... for now.
TURN 2
Screaming Bell gets pushed into 24" range of the Life Star's front rank but 24" away from the Slann to avoid the Becalming Cogitation. Curse you pre-measure! 13th Spell Power scroll IForces as it does but results in only 8 dead Saurus as the miscast results in a Dimensional Cascade destroying the Greyseer and obliterating 20 Clanrats pushing the Bell. "I regret nothinggggg...!" HPA closes in. Saurus block flees from charging Plague Furnace. Salamanders flee from charging Assassin. The game of cat and rat begins... 2 more Cold One Riders die to Doomwheel shooting.
Everything rallies. The 2 remaining Cold Ones charge a unit of Slavens in the backfield who hold to fight but with no Greyseer general around to help their leadership they lose combat and are run down. Oldblood with the BoR declares a charge against the HPA who flees. Slann leaves the Life Star as he would now be forced to the front rank and casts Dwellers Below with IF which results in Detonation miscast but this means nothing as he's alone so I don't use Cupped Hands. Blowpipes blow and do 1 wound to the Assassin... fail.
TURN 3
HPA rallies. Warlord steps out to charge the Oldblood... I flee rather than face an I7 Fellblade with my un-potioned Oldblood. Warlord ends up rolling snake-eyes for charge distance. I'm furious at this as my Oldblood runs 10" away! Assassin charges Saurus spear block and challenges the Saurus Champion who declines... epic fail combat sees no one die but Assassin flees from the mighty banner and rank bonus and is run down. Doomwheel runs over the Chameleons... curse you compulsory movement negating charge reactions! Plague furnace charges Skink Skirmishers who flee through Terradons no panic no harm no one else for the Furnace to redirect too. I scroll a really high casting roll of Plague. Plague Mortars continue to claim Saurus as the casualties start to add up.
Salamanders and Oldblood rally. The Saurus spear block charge the depleted Stormvermin who flee. Other Saurus unit with Scar-vet charges Slavens who hold, lose, and get run down and kill 2 Mortar teams in their panicked retreat! Bonus! Slann casts Throne of Vines and gives +4 Toughness to Scar-vet Saurus using Flesh to Stone. Warlord gets shot down by S6 Awakening of the Wood (he had wounded himself twice already with the Fellblade.)
TURN 4
Rhellion remembers his Storm Banner and uses it... it will remain up all rest of the game so the Terradons just waddle around from here on out. Stormvermin keep on truckin'. Plague Furnace tries again to charge the Saurus who flee again. Doomwheel shoots down the last 2 Cold One Riders but hurts itself on the Ghost Fence. Then just when things start to look alright... something retardedly unfortunate happens. The Screaming Bell rolls up a Deafening Peel which inflicts D3 wounds on any model over T7 on the board. Not a big deal... UNLESS YOU HAVE AN ENTIRE UNIT OF FUCKING SAURUS WITH T8!!! So I'm left with the 3 Command Saurus and the Scar-vet fighting the HPA after armour saves. HPA don't like T8 Saurus and he fails to kill any and loses combat suffering 2 wounds but doesn't flee. Plague Priest throws 6 dice at the Plague and gets it off with like a 24 with no 6's and I fail to dispel it... a unit of Skink Skirmishers, a Terradon and several Saurus die as the contagion spreads among the Lizardmen's ranks.
The Saurus who have been running from the Plague Furnace almost all game fail to rally and come within 1/2" of fleeing off the board! Playing lengthwise FTW! The Oldblood closes in on the Plague Furnace seeking to BoRealities it. Magic phase continues to roll on with high numbers... Slann casts Dwellers Below on the Plague Monks with IF swallowing up a half dozen or so and passing on the Calamitous Detonation miscast with the Cupped Hands to the Plague Priest causing a few more casualties on the Plague-ridden rats... only 1 dice is lost from the pool. Saurus get some Flesh to Stone T8 love again and fight the HPA to a standstill.
TURN 5
Stormvermin flee again. Doomwheel forgets to move and is pretty much out of the game. Plague furnace attempts to charge Salamanders who flee... charge redirect to the Slaan but it's a long shot... Slaan holds... Plague Furnace charge fails by a lot. HPA eats the Saurus banner but combat is another stale-mate leaving just the Champion and Scar-vet and 3 wounds on the HPA. Plague is cast again with a high non-IF roll and again the Slann fails to dispel and more Saurus spear warriors die leaving just 5 of the once 28 strong block of warriors but the plague then bounces to the Clanrats with the BSB who lose a dozen to the out of control Pestilen's magics! Throne of Vines is dispelled by the Priest.
Salamanders rally and Saurus who have fled from the furnace rally at the table edge on a solidly cold-blooded 8... HUGE! Oldblood charges the Plague Furnace to be challenged by the Monk Champion... grrrrr. The Slaan puts up Throne of Vines and proceeds to go bonkers rolling 2 IForces in a row but ignores the miscast thanks to the Throne of Vines 2+. The Saurus fighting the HPA get 3 models back from Regrowth and the T8 boost again. The music dies again as the HPA kills the musician again and the remaining Saurus in a flurry of 6's... it was only a matter of time. Scar-vet holds like a champ.
TURN 6
Stormvermin flee off the board. HPA eats the brave Scar-vet. Clanrats fail to charge the 5 remaining Saurus. Now for the big rules debate: actually 2 rules debates. #1: Blade of Realities vs Skaven Strength in Numbers rule. I argue your own, unmodified leadership is what is on your stat-line... Rhellion says Strength in Numbers ALWAYS adds to your leadership no matter what per Skaven FAQ. We roll off and I win the debate. Now on to rules debate #2. The Plague Priest challenges my Oldblood and still gets to use the attacks from the Plague Furnace on my Old-blood but I can only attack the Plague Priest?!? What the hell is a Plague Furnace anyway? We could not find anything in the rules that allows me to attack what we consider the Plague Furnace to be... a monsterous mount in a challenge... so my Old-blood while murdering the Plague Priest was blasted apart by a number of S10 hits from the Plague Furnace he could not attack and was killed. Sweet.
No charges to declare. The Hypnotoad goes out in style with a box-cars Magic phase casting a mighty 24 non-IF Dwellers Below which devastates the Clanrats and he finishes them off with an Awakening of the Wood blasting. The Skink Skirmishers pin-cushin the last Screaming Bell Clanrat Champion who they had been whittling down for half the game.
The After-math
Magic was insane... I think the lowest roll was a 6 just one time.
The Skaven have the Screaming Bell, Plague Furnace, the HPA with 3 wounds, the Doomwheel with 1 wound, and about a dozen Plague Monks left.
I have my Slann, Scroll caddy Skink Priest, 5 Saurus w/ spears, the full Saurus unit that almost ran off the board, grounded Terradons, both Skink Skirmisher units and the Salamanders.
Tallying up the VPs I end up winning by a little over 100 points... not bad considering I get nothing for the Grey Seer or the Plague Priest because their 'mounts' are still alive. ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!
Well this game has taught me a few things. 1: I probably will not be fielding an Engine of the Gods any time soon. Losing the thing to a 90 point cannon just isn't worth it... points are better used on more Salamanders and Saurus Warriors. 2: Blade of Realities on an Old-Blood needs to be riding with the Cold Ones and a Champion. While a Carnosaur would be ideal there just isn't enough points outside of 4000pt games where this will happen with a Slann.
I'm sure I got a few things out of order in the batrep. Rhellion was the one that actually took notes!
So this was a massive battle that took well over 4 hours to play mainly because we rolled up Battle for the Pass and played length-wise down the board and I'm still pretty new to the game. Lots of maneuvering and not a lot of room adds up to lots of units that took a while to see combat.
Rhellion's Skaven have been 13th Spelling the local armys off the table including my Lizardmen in a previous 2000 point battle. Well no more! I was determined to put an end to this madness and give the Hypnotoad his deserved glory.
Life Star 3000:
Slann: BSB Banner of Eternal Flame (die HPA die!), Lore of Life, Cupped Hands of the Old Ones, Blood Statuette of Spite (forgot to use it), Focus of Mystery, Focused Rumination, Becalming Cogitation.
Oldblood: Gambler's Armour, Potion of Speed, Blade of Realty looking to sell some swamp land in Lustria...err... Blade of Realities.
Skink Priest: Engine of the Gods, Cube of Darkness.
Skink Priest: Displel Scroll.
Scar-Vet: Sword of Might, Enchanted Shield.
28 Saurus: FC, spears.
15 Saurus: FC.
15 Saurus: FC.
12 Skink Skirmishers.
12 Skink Skirmishers.
9 Chameleon Skinks.
3 Terradons.
8 Cold One Riders: FC, Warbanner.
2 Salamanders.
Pretty much my entire army save the Temple Guard who would pretty much be 13th Spell rats, so they sit this one out.
Rhellion's Skaven horde:
Grey Seer on Screaming Bell with Power Scroll, Dispel Scroll, 3 Warpstone Tokens
Warlord: Shield, War-litter, The Fellblade
Assassin: Weeping Blade, Potion of Strength
Chieftain BSB: Storm Banner
Plague Priest on Plague Furnace: Opal Amulet
2 Clan Rat units
1 Stormvermin unit
2 Skavenslave units
3 Poison Wind Mortar weapon teams
6 Gutter Runners
Plague Monks
Hell Pit Abomination
Doomwheel
Warp Lightning Cannon
All units had full command and at least 30 models plus other items on the characters I think.
THE BATTLE FIELD
The rows of gravestones counted as Ghost Fences. Scary! Mystery forests would be nothing and a Fungus forest which had no effect on the game.
DEPLOYMENT
Life Star: 28 Saurus with Oldblood and Slann. Scouts love this mission as we both set up behind the enemy army. Despite getting +1 I don't go first.
TURN 1
Brutal. My Engine of the Gods gets Warp Lightning Cannoned off the table. So cannons hit everything on a mount? 430 points poofed. 3 Cold One Riders shot dead by Doomwheel, handful of Saurus die to Poison Mortars... I was almost ready to give up.
My Chameleons kill the Warp Lightning Cannon. Revenge! Terradons crush the Gutter Runners with rocks leaving one survivor who breaks. During the game this little rat runs through Skinks, Saurus, and a Hell-Pit passing all DT tests, rolling a 3 to almost rally twice and finally runs off the board in turn 5. Slann casts Dwellers Below on the Stormvermin using 6 dice but no IF so it was scrolled. I cook some Stormvermin with my Salamanders. Cold Ones charge and see off the Doomwheel... for now.
TURN 2
Screaming Bell gets pushed into 24" range of the Life Star's front rank but 24" away from the Slann to avoid the Becalming Cogitation. Curse you pre-measure! 13th Spell Power scroll IForces as it does but results in only 8 dead Saurus as the miscast results in a Dimensional Cascade destroying the Greyseer and obliterating 20 Clanrats pushing the Bell. "I regret nothinggggg...!" HPA closes in. Saurus block flees from charging Plague Furnace. Salamanders flee from charging Assassin. The game of cat and rat begins... 2 more Cold One Riders die to Doomwheel shooting.
Everything rallies. The 2 remaining Cold Ones charge a unit of Slavens in the backfield who hold to fight but with no Greyseer general around to help their leadership they lose combat and are run down. Oldblood with the BoR declares a charge against the HPA who flees. Slann leaves the Life Star as he would now be forced to the front rank and casts Dwellers Below with IF which results in Detonation miscast but this means nothing as he's alone so I don't use Cupped Hands. Blowpipes blow and do 1 wound to the Assassin... fail.
TURN 3
HPA rallies. Warlord steps out to charge the Oldblood... I flee rather than face an I7 Fellblade with my un-potioned Oldblood. Warlord ends up rolling snake-eyes for charge distance. I'm furious at this as my Oldblood runs 10" away! Assassin charges Saurus spear block and challenges the Saurus Champion who declines... epic fail combat sees no one die but Assassin flees from the mighty banner and rank bonus and is run down. Doomwheel runs over the Chameleons... curse you compulsory movement negating charge reactions! Plague furnace charges Skink Skirmishers who flee through Terradons no panic no harm no one else for the Furnace to redirect too. I scroll a really high casting roll of Plague. Plague Mortars continue to claim Saurus as the casualties start to add up.
Salamanders and Oldblood rally. The Saurus spear block charge the depleted Stormvermin who flee. Other Saurus unit with Scar-vet charges Slavens who hold, lose, and get run down and kill 2 Mortar teams in their panicked retreat! Bonus! Slann casts Throne of Vines and gives +4 Toughness to Scar-vet Saurus using Flesh to Stone. Warlord gets shot down by S6 Awakening of the Wood (he had wounded himself twice already with the Fellblade.)
TURN 4
Rhellion remembers his Storm Banner and uses it... it will remain up all rest of the game so the Terradons just waddle around from here on out. Stormvermin keep on truckin'. Plague Furnace tries again to charge the Saurus who flee again. Doomwheel shoots down the last 2 Cold One Riders but hurts itself on the Ghost Fence. Then just when things start to look alright... something retardedly unfortunate happens. The Screaming Bell rolls up a Deafening Peel which inflicts D3 wounds on any model over T7 on the board. Not a big deal... UNLESS YOU HAVE AN ENTIRE UNIT OF FUCKING SAURUS WITH T8!!! So I'm left with the 3 Command Saurus and the Scar-vet fighting the HPA after armour saves. HPA don't like T8 Saurus and he fails to kill any and loses combat suffering 2 wounds but doesn't flee. Plague Priest throws 6 dice at the Plague and gets it off with like a 24 with no 6's and I fail to dispel it... a unit of Skink Skirmishers, a Terradon and several Saurus die as the contagion spreads among the Lizardmen's ranks.
The Saurus who have been running from the Plague Furnace almost all game fail to rally and come within 1/2" of fleeing off the board! Playing lengthwise FTW! The Oldblood closes in on the Plague Furnace seeking to BoRealities it. Magic phase continues to roll on with high numbers... Slann casts Dwellers Below on the Plague Monks with IF swallowing up a half dozen or so and passing on the Calamitous Detonation miscast with the Cupped Hands to the Plague Priest causing a few more casualties on the Plague-ridden rats... only 1 dice is lost from the pool. Saurus get some Flesh to Stone T8 love again and fight the HPA to a standstill.
TURN 5
Stormvermin flee again. Doomwheel forgets to move and is pretty much out of the game. Plague furnace attempts to charge Salamanders who flee... charge redirect to the Slaan but it's a long shot... Slaan holds... Plague Furnace charge fails by a lot. HPA eats the Saurus banner but combat is another stale-mate leaving just the Champion and Scar-vet and 3 wounds on the HPA. Plague is cast again with a high non-IF roll and again the Slann fails to dispel and more Saurus spear warriors die leaving just 5 of the once 28 strong block of warriors but the plague then bounces to the Clanrats with the BSB who lose a dozen to the out of control Pestilen's magics! Throne of Vines is dispelled by the Priest.
Salamanders rally and Saurus who have fled from the furnace rally at the table edge on a solidly cold-blooded 8... HUGE! Oldblood charges the Plague Furnace to be challenged by the Monk Champion... grrrrr. The Slaan puts up Throne of Vines and proceeds to go bonkers rolling 2 IForces in a row but ignores the miscast thanks to the Throne of Vines 2+. The Saurus fighting the HPA get 3 models back from Regrowth and the T8 boost again. The music dies again as the HPA kills the musician again and the remaining Saurus in a flurry of 6's... it was only a matter of time. Scar-vet holds like a champ.
TURN 6
Stormvermin flee off the board. HPA eats the brave Scar-vet. Clanrats fail to charge the 5 remaining Saurus. Now for the big rules debate: actually 2 rules debates. #1: Blade of Realities vs Skaven Strength in Numbers rule. I argue your own, unmodified leadership is what is on your stat-line... Rhellion says Strength in Numbers ALWAYS adds to your leadership no matter what per Skaven FAQ. We roll off and I win the debate. Now on to rules debate #2. The Plague Priest challenges my Oldblood and still gets to use the attacks from the Plague Furnace on my Old-blood but I can only attack the Plague Priest?!? What the hell is a Plague Furnace anyway? We could not find anything in the rules that allows me to attack what we consider the Plague Furnace to be... a monsterous mount in a challenge... so my Old-blood while murdering the Plague Priest was blasted apart by a number of S10 hits from the Plague Furnace he could not attack and was killed. Sweet.
No charges to declare. The Hypnotoad goes out in style with a box-cars Magic phase casting a mighty 24 non-IF Dwellers Below which devastates the Clanrats and he finishes them off with an Awakening of the Wood blasting. The Skink Skirmishers pin-cushin the last Screaming Bell Clanrat Champion who they had been whittling down for half the game.
The After-math
Magic was insane... I think the lowest roll was a 6 just one time.
The Skaven have the Screaming Bell, Plague Furnace, the HPA with 3 wounds, the Doomwheel with 1 wound, and about a dozen Plague Monks left.
I have my Slann, Scroll caddy Skink Priest, 5 Saurus w/ spears, the full Saurus unit that almost ran off the board, grounded Terradons, both Skink Skirmisher units and the Salamanders.
Tallying up the VPs I end up winning by a little over 100 points... not bad considering I get nothing for the Grey Seer or the Plague Priest because their 'mounts' are still alive. ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!
Well this game has taught me a few things. 1: I probably will not be fielding an Engine of the Gods any time soon. Losing the thing to a 90 point cannon just isn't worth it... points are better used on more Salamanders and Saurus Warriors. 2: Blade of Realities on an Old-Blood needs to be riding with the Cold Ones and a Champion. While a Carnosaur would be ideal there just isn't enough points outside of 4000pt games where this will happen with a Slann.
I'm sure I got a few things out of order in the batrep. Rhellion was the one that actually took notes!
