Orcs vs. Lizardmen short

I got together with a friend to give him a trial run of warhammer fantasy. He usually plays historical (black hawk down, desperado, circus maximus, civil war, fire and fury, etc.) He usually trounces me on tactics because he’s cautious, but this time he was feeling rather impetuous in order to get a quick feel for the rules.

Orcs and Goblins

14 wolf riders (shields, bows, boss, banner)

10 spider riders (boss, bows, banner)

38 night goblins (bows, boss, banner, 3 fanatics)

19 savage orcs (bows, boss, banner, musician)

29 black orcs (banner ad boss)

2 spear chukkas

2 doom divers

1 GIANT

goblin shaman level 2 on wolf (2 magic missile spells)

goblin hero gorblum (battle standard bearer, spider banner)

Black Orc big boss morglum (heavy armor)

Savage Orc Shaman level 2 (dispel scroll)

Orc Warboss Zork Rumpscratcha on Wyvern (waagh cleava, shield, armor)

Lizardmen

28 skinks (brave, standard, 3 krox)

19 saurus (full command)

10 skink skirmishers w brave

stegadon

9 cold ones

2 salamanders

scar veteran (l.armor, warrior bane, horned one, shield)

priest level 2 on

ancient stegadon

slann w 2 disciplines (+1 die each spell, loremaster) and bsb

oldblood (great weapon, gambler’s armor, luckstone)

So Orcs and Goblins go first. Everybody passes animosity. In movement he brings his wyvern over into the center and moves forward with the wolf riders to get their shots off. The black orcs march forward, the archers manoever, the Savages, spiders, and giant go full forward down the flank.

In magic, Gork goes on the warpath rolling 6 hits each stomp before wandering off. This was a great spell for him to get on my cold ones, killing 3 of them. Oh and he miscast, giving himself a wound.

Shooting also seriously damaged the saurus. YOU DON:T HAVE TO GUESS RANGES ANYMORE!?! wow. I was usually dead on, but that makes warmachines much better since they’ve got randomness already worked in with the misfire dice. Anyway, a total of 8 sauri were taken out by magic and shooting. I tested after losing 5 in magic and they passed panic. Do I have to test each time? I don’t thinks so. The chukkas didn’t hit this time and one doom diver scattered off. What’s the rule for them now? They can still only correct d3? doesn’t matter, he was way off.

Lizard turn. Everybody moved forward. During magic, the priest who had wind blow of lameness spell and something else just made the engine do the gungan shield. (I should only take a level 1 here with the default spell. I just haven’t gotten into heavens yet. All my dice are usually taken by the everliving slann.)

Slann gives himself a throne of vines irresistible force. So the spell gets worked out first right and then I get to roll a 2+ and the miscast doesn’t count. How sweet is that! So he’s fine. Then I go all in for dwellers on the savages and kill 11 including his shaman. Do they get ward saves on that? I forgot their ward saves. woops.

Then in shooting I just barely singe the chinny chin chin of a savage with a salamander. It doesn’t wound. Then the great bow hits the wyvern! Now here I need some help. Does it randomize? Do both get skewered? We rolled and it hit his General. 2 wounds! Ouch. I love my wyvern model but it is just really open to war machine fire in the new rules.

His turn. He waagh’s. Wolf riders get into the skink skirmishers, Black orcs roll low and fail. Zork flies in (how do flying charges work? 3d6 plus ?) he waaghed forward and then we let him charge 20 in. The spider riders charge in. The giant doesn’t make it. Does a giant benefit from a waagh? We didn’t have him move an extra d6.

Night goblins shoot with 20 poisoned shots and kill maybe one guy. Savage Orcs don’t kill anybody. Doom Divers crash down on Ancient stegadon killing all but one crew and the steg Steg gets one wound. Again I wasn’t sure exactly how to work this so we put 1 strength 9 hit on the priest and one on the steg. Priest was gone even with his ward save. Steg only took one wound. 3 crew die.

At this point I remember my stand and shoot reactions. I had tested for terror from the giant and stayed. So the skinks put a hail of javelins into the Wyvern (over half range, stand and shoot, but large target so 5,6 is that right?) Anyway we randomize the hits again and the warlord dies, bites it before he ever sees combat. Ouch. And the wyvern takes a wound and GRRRRs from his reaction table. Wolf riders on the other hand don’t take any wounds from stand and shoot.

In magic he dispels throne of vines.

In close combat the skink skirmishers get slaughtered but hold due to insane courage. 3 poisoned attacks kill 3 skinks without flesh to stone on them yet. Krox whiffs. If he’s in the middle of my 3 kroxs, do supporting attacks go diagonal as well. I thought not so I only had one krox attack. I forgot the thunderstomp. AND FEAR, so I test and pass. Anyway, Orcs and Goblins are pretty pitiful on the charges now due to not going first. Finally, the spiders get demolished and caught. Those saves are pretty invulnerable to most troops.

So my friend had to go at this point but in a hypothetical next round. The wolf riders would have won and reformed ready for a charge next turn on the skrox. The stegadon would charge the black orcs. The skrox would try to defeat the wyvern and overrun into the black orcs but fail. The Ancient Stegadon would charge the black orcs too. The saurus would march up. Sallies would singe the savages and they in turn would flee. The cold ones would turn to face the giant. The slann would cast dwellers on the night goblin archers if they weren’t fleeing already from a 2 failed panic tests from their general biting it.

Thoughts after the game. Even though I wasn’t playing Orcs and Goblins, I learned a few things for them. Warmachines are a must. Wyverns are not. Put all my guys in big blocks. Don’t worry about that stupid spider banner strategy. I haven’t figured out where to put my casters yet. I’d like them mounted for the save and to get in range but I don’t want them racing in and being unable to cast their spells. And maybe a look out sir would be better than a save.

Remember thunderstomp and steadfast! Oh and stupidity, I forgot that.

Lizardmen thoughts…Slann life build is beardy. All I need now is some temple guard to protect this guy and he owns. And I’m not tired of the cold one cavalry yet. I like that save, now if I could just get them to actually flank someone.

High Elves vs. Lizardmen 3 battle chronicler

The silver helms reformed so as to leave themselves less vulnerable to the flammable spittle of the salamanders.
As the silver helms were reforming the skink cohort skittered across the battlefield as if on elven steeds. They seemed larger and tougher than any skinks he'd ever seen. Perhaps they had been assisted by the potent magics of that ponderous toad. The sea guard's arrows bounced on the now thick hides of these quick creatures. The Slann again wrought potent magics over and over such that Magus had to speak his last dispel scroll, defusing the dangerous magic.

The reavers sallied forth to fill the cold ones full of fletched arrows but alas their armor proved to thick. The stegadons armor proved too tough as well as a giant bolt from the eagle claw merely got lodged into the beast's spiked frill. His citizen soldiers sent on a peace mission were not fairing so well in the center either. His sea guard broke under the wieght of the kroxigors great weapons carving a bloody swath in thier midst. Thankfully, the swordmasters came to their rescue and began slicing skinks by twos. Magus managed to flip a fireball into the saurus felling several more than the archers did with their volley. A bolt struck home on the ancient stegadon but failed to stop it.


Before his very eyes, his entire regiment of reavers was torn down by spear and talon of the cold one cavalry. Though they had bravely overcome their fear and marshalled themselves to strike first the mounted sauri were more than their match. And now the stegadon was so close they could smell its jungle wildness through their dragon armor helms.
This outrage must be stopped. The highborn of Ulthuan would not bear this insult. They came in peace with an offer of the honor to fight beside them in a campaign against evil and these brutes returned their generous offer with death and scorn. "Strike for the heart" he told his princes and they charged the bloated toad in the middle of the forest. But for all their boldness, training and bravery two princes got caught in the overhanging branches and were cast from their steeds. The prince struck for the heart of the priest plunging his sword deep into the toad's body, "How dare the priest attack when he'd been shown favor!" *favor?* the thought burst into his mind. The mage stared at Tassadar, unblinking with a blade sticking out of him, a wound that would have killed 3 mortal men. *You did not show us favor. You gave us the red dagger of death.* Again the thoughts appeared in his mind unbidden. It was the priest speaking into his mind. "That dagger was a token of peace!" He snarled. *not in our culture* stared the priest.

The lizardmen suddenly stopped fighting. And Tassadar sounded the horn himself to call for his elves to cease.

***
Thoughts after the game:
Don't hold back with units that were meant for close combat.
Be very cautious about sending cavalry into woods.
Try a higher caster instead of two little ones.
Use bigger units of infantry.
don't waste arrow shots at cavalry.

Questions:
Is the slann loremaster life build too beardy?
Are eagle claw bolt throwers potent enough for a gunline?

High Elves vs. Lizardmen 2 battle chronicler

Sensing the weakness of the left flank Tassadar motioned to his kindred dragon prince to sound the horn call for reinforcements on the left. The Ellyrian reavers quickly responded under the hail of volley fire coming from the sea guard, archers, and eagle claws. Screams pierced the air from the pierced skinks.

Sparks formed and then fizzled at the fingertips of Aegis and Magus his faithful mages. Something powerful was hindering their usually forceful magics.

Thankfully the clumsy stegadon in front of them rocked and wobbled the howdah atop it such that every shot it fired fell short of the dragon princes. "Just wait til it feels the wrath of the foe bane!" the ambassador sneered. Between the cold ones and the stegadon it looked as though the lizardmen were baiting a charge from the dragon princes. Well, they wouldn't fall for it. The accursed bubble remained over even more of the lizardmen savages as they quickly advanced on his line. Vines and roots reached out from the forest to grab at Aegis but he deftly maneuvered to escape them.

Through the trees he could see that the remaining shadow warriors had narrowly escaped an attempted charge by the putrescent smoking salamanders. He hoped they would distract the dangerous beasts from more necessary troops. They fired another volley of ash and arrow to bring down a lizard riding lizard and several of the heftier looking saurii. The reavers aligned on his right to help with the left flank.

to be continued...

High Elves vs. Lizardmen with battle chronicler

Ambassador Tassadar had his orders from the High Command of Ulthuan. Rally allies under the banner of Eltharion to engage in a campaign against the dark forces clamoring to new atrocities in the East.

Having been born of a low house, rising only in the last millennium he received the odious challenge of extending an outstretched hand to the savages, the chittering skinks, silent saurus and other unmentionables in these stifling tropical jungles.

It chafed him to ask for help from unclad, unruly, primitive hut-dwellers. He could perceive their mud daubed housing compounds from the hill outside town. They had run into several skink scouts on their way to the nearest village of the lizardmen. They had offered tokens of peace and good will, baubles and trinkets as might dazzle the primitives, but which were of no good to him anymore. Of late he had parted with an old ruby dagger to a skink chameleon who had popped out of nowhere. The skink emissary had chattered madly and incomprehensibly so Tassadar hoped these humble folk would be easily swayed to their cause with whatever shiny bits the citizen soldiers had about their persons.

But Tassadar didn’t stoop to speak skink. And it never entered into his brain that a ruby dagger was tantamount to declaring genocide on an entire village. Suffice it to say, the lizardmen did not respond well.

Tassadar had his men arrayed in full regalia as they approached the excuse for a town. Armor shined and glinting in the sun, the high elves wanted to show these lizardmen that it would be an honor to fight beside high elven warriors of such prestige. But when the stegadons rumbled out of the town and reptilian warriors and beasts came at them from every angle the ambassador decided to give the order to get into defensive positions.

High elf army

Prince w/ barded elven steed and foe bane

Level 1 mage with dispel scroll (fire)

Level 2 mage (life)

Battle standard bearer noble

14 archers, standard and hawkeye

13 lothern sea guard w shields and full command

8 ellyrian reavers w bows

8 silver helms w shields and full command

14 swordmasters w full command

5 shadow warriors w shadow walker

2 bolt throwers

Tassadar was a bit taken aback by the highly sophisticated magics enveloping both the lizardmen and the skinks and giant reptiles. The ancient slug creature that could only be mistaken for toadlike slann barely raised a languid arm and suddenly he sat atop a throne of vines, the skink/ krozigor cohort suddenly looked much more tough and imposing. A huge blue bubble of protection popped up around a whirring configuration of wood and stone set atop a ponderous armor-plated stegadon.

A great bow twanged and sent an armor piercing arrow toward the dragon princes just beside Tassadar. They had quickly diverted to the left flank. Luckily, the fletched spear thudded into soggy sawgrass in front of them.

On the right flank the elven ambassador watched with horror as his scouts were burnt to a crisp in their position in the forest. The two stalwart shadow warriors who were left took cover in the trees but held their position.

As he scanned the battlefield it was at this point that Tassadar realized… “I don’t think this is their version of a welcoming party. They’re probably not open to coming with us in our campaign.”

Lizardmen army

Slann, bsb, 2 disciplines of the ancients (+1 power dice for each cast, knows all spells in lore) life

Scar Veteran with great weapon, light armor, and 6+ ward save

Skink priest on ancient stegadon with engine of the gods (uranon's thunderbolt)

28 skinks with 3 kroxigor and full command

19 saurus warriors full command

8 cold one cavalry full command

1 stegadon
2 salamanders with extra handlers

to be continued...