Lizards vs Chaos Mortals

Via the City Guard forums I organised a game with Mike who is in New Zealand for his "summer break". Mike is one of these dashing and adventurous international teachers so we had much more to talk about than the game. He's just getting back into Fantasy after an extended break and using the GYB (Get You By) White Dwarf Chaos list and trying to learn the intricacies of the new rules proved to be more than a little challenging.

I took the Lizard list from previous games; the middle-of-the-road build that probably anyone could use effectively and get a good game with (case in point in fact, my game a while back vs Antony when he was using Lizards - very similar).

Mike had:

L4 sorcerer, 2 exalted champions on foot, L2 sorcerer, 2 fat Marauder blocks (25-strong), I think 17-18-strong Chaos Warriors (6 wide), same again but Chosen Warriors, 5 Knights, 3 Spawn.

I was confident going into the game despite only having played Chaos Mortals once (against Ray at Tin Soldiers - I suspect from what I've read that the old list was MUCH more difficult to face). Frankly it went my way from the get go with the Skinks shielding Krox and baiting chargers, other Skinks march-blocking the Knights and shooting up Spawn. The Cold One and Jag Vets both jumped all over another Spawn and got behind the Chaos lines. The big impact on the game though was the Steg hitting a Marauder block (static 5) and killing 8 or so of them (thanks to Portent of Far and rerolling 'ones'). They failed the break test and were run down, the Steg capturing the banner - the Chaos Warriors (Chosen!) next to them failed their panic check and ran through another Marauder block who also panicked. Next turn the Chosen rallied but the Marauders fled through the remaining Warriors (who fortunately passed their panic check) and off the board. The rallied Chosen were then charged by some Krox (through a Skink screen) and fled, failing to rally on their next turn but just stopping short of the board edge the turn after that. The remaining Chaos block charged some Skinks who fled and were run down but this left the Warriors free to be charged by both Krox units. Carnage ensued after I managed once again to get Portent of Far off on the Krox - rerolling ones when you are rolling 18 attacks at strength 7 is AWESOME. The Chaos Warriors took horrendous casualties and broke (ended up being outnumbered by fear-causers) and a Krox unit captured their banner.

While all this was going on the Steg, Slann, Priest and Saurus block (and 6 Skinks) were trying to figure out how to face down the Knights and accompanying L4 sorcerer. Mike solved the problem for me by charging the Saurus at long range. The Saurus fled and escaped (rallying next turn) leaving the Knights open for a charge by the Steg and Jag Vet. They couldn't flee because of the Skinks behind them (that and the Jag-Vet's 18" charge of course...) so took the charge from the Vet and Steg and were crushed mercilessly.

With the just rallied Chosen on the board edge the last Chaos unit surviving we called the game.

To be fair Mike is relearning the game and I've been getting in some good practice with the scaled ones so it was never looking promising for him for a win. It was more important that the game be used for learning purposes anyway and in this capacity I think Mike made some serious headway.

I recommended fitting in a BSB with Stubborn banner and looking at a fighty Lord instead of the L4 caster running with the Knights. Mike concurred and we resolved to get together later in the week for a night game with the proposed changes, this time Chaos vs Dwarfs.