Egad. Lizards again. Hrm...
Somehow a draw in the previous round netted me a harder Lizard list in Round 4 :) In a way it was heartening to see the diversity between this list and the previous one. In a way it was disheartening to realise I'd played the odds and ended up facing a list that was going to annihilate me in the magic, shooting AND combat phases.
Ryan (brother of Russell - playing VCs at the same tournament) was (is) a lovely chap who I think played VERY well. His deployment was clever, he had a reasonable amount of luck but not so much that I consider it to be the determining factor in the game, he moved carefully, and he played to the strengths of the list. The stuff I killed off (which was really not much at all) was pretty much the stuff he wanted me to kill off. Good solid Warhammer on his part I reckon.
Ryan had:
4th Slann with Tepok, BSB and Warbanner (standard kit - very effective apart from not having the Banehead)
Scar-Vet with Quetzl, Sword of Might and Maiming Shield
Priest with Scroll
20 Saurus - full command
10 Skinks with Pipes
10 Scouts with Pipes
14 Skinks with Javs
20 Quetzl Saurus - full command
3 Krox
3 Krox
3 Salamander Packs
A decent list erring on the hard side (I'm guessing the magic and the Sallies) and as a result Ryan recieved a -6 NCM for his comp score.
A quick brain total told me that the Slann/Quetzl bunker was worth just over 1000VPs (assuming I kill it/catch it) and that it was quite beyond me to achieve this. That meant looking to kill everything else which was going to be unlikely given all the Skirmishing nastiness that was lurking around.
The Slann rolled up: Burning Iron (bah), Lead, Steed, Shades and Creeping Death. The Priest got 2nd Sign.
The Wizard rolled up Steed and the incredibly and undeniably awesome and yet totally crap Crown of Taidron. WTF is this spell about?! So the Wizard was neutered. This signalled the collapse of my brain functioning properly - why the hell I rolled on Shadows I can't honestly remember (Pit? Lurker? As if!!) when Fire would have been SO much more useful. Idiot.
Being the complete chicken I am most of my army hid behind a hill in my deployment zone, courageously pushing the shooting troops out in front to take the heat. My brave BSB and General hid from the Slann and his smoking gun (Burning Iron). As a result most of my army didn't participate in the game which was obviously a pity but good in that they also didn't die :)
Cockups:
- charged and scared away some Scouts with the GW-Knights who (just) hit a forest, forgot to move in my next turn, and were all smoked when the Frog clocked up 7 sixes with Creeping Death. Nice.
- The Knights surviving 18 Salamander shots, charging them, Sallies flee 5" and get away (8" and they would have fled the board). Knights flanked by Krox. Knights flee, fail to rally, get within 2" of the board edge. Knights rally deep in difficult to terrain. Knights survive but contribute nothing to the game.
- Cannon kills a Krox. they don't panic (way WAY away from the General's leadership). Pistoliers (and magic and other shooting) fail to kill another one (two wounds caused). Krox chase off Pistoliers, Cannon and break after charging Swordsmen. General solo charges and chases them off the board. Some bad luck not taking them out before they hit but also the fact that they absorbed the attention of so much of my army was annoying.
- Last turn the Handgunners and General hit the flank of a much depleted Saurus unit (NOT the Quetzl). General fluffs, 2 Handhunners die (from the one Saurus who could attack them). Empire lose testing at -1, standing right next to the Empire BSB). Handgunners pass. General fails. General fails break reroll. Here you go Ryan, let me just give you 250VPs. Dammit! It was a stupid idea in the first place - Lizards have to lose combat by 4-5 before they get worried about breaking (when the General/BSB is nearby). What a noob play that was!
In the end I lost the General (who was a complete twat and deserved to die), GW-Knights, Crossbows, Huntsmen, Flagellents (holding up the Quetzl block), Pistoliers, Cannon, Mortar and Ryan had a table quarter.
All I took off Ryan was a quarter, 1/2 the Saurus, 10 Skinks and 1/2 of the 14-Jav unit, and a unit of Krox. Difference in totals was 647VPs - enough for me suffer a 13-7 loss.
If I hadn't committed the General is would have been a 12-8 loss. That one extra point of my tournament score would have put me up one place. Need to think about this much more carefully in the future (sorry Trent - all those lessons... time for another reread methinks).
3 comments:
Lovely game Dave, alot of time spent thinking about how I was going to play it. The 3 krox who took on most of the empire army where the heroes in my book oh and you forgot the cannon hit on the slann with the "1" to wound you rolled def a great game and I think other than the general charging the surus who where half points already you did a stand up job.
Ryan.
Thanks mate. Look forward to catching up for 2250pt action if you are down this way.
Forgot about that one to wound. Should have spent more time shooting the frog - another mistake on my part!
Damn that as a royal screw up charging with the General. I'd like to say "lesson learned" but I've got a funny feeling I'll do the same thing again in the future :)
That what if feeling? Did you get my email with my new list i will be running for Tin solders?
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