1st Foray Into 8th Edition (part 1)

Two weeks ago I had my first foray into 8th edition. Unfortunately, as always, I failed at taking pictures.

The first game I played was against Sam and his Daemons of Chaos again. I took my Lizardmen. I used a list very similar to my standard 7th edition list with a few tweaks to scale it up to 2500 points.

My list:
Slann Mage-Priest
- Focus of Mystery
- Focused Rumination
- Becalming Cogitation
- Cupped Hands of the Old Ones
- Battle Standard Bearer
- Lore of Light
Skink Priest
- Level 2
- Engine of the Gods
- Plaque of Tepok
Skink Priest
- Level 2
- Cube of Darkness
11 Skink Skirmishers
11 Skink Skirmishers
11 Skink Skirmishers
20 Saurus Warriors
- Full Command
- Spears
20 Saurus Warriors
- Full Command
- Spears
20 Temple Guard
- Full Command
12 Chameleon Skinks
3 Terradon Riders
2 Salamanders

Sam's list (guesstimate):
Kairos Fateweaver
Herald of Khorne
Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut
Herald of Slaanesh
3 Nurglings
20 Bloodletters
20 Bloodletters
20 Daemonettes
3 Bloodcrushers
5 Flamers
6 Flamers

We rolled Battle for the Pass. Our terrain setup had a watchtower on both sides of the board near the deployment line. One side had a town with a handful of obstacles, a Sigmarite Shrine, and a Mysterious Forest. Off to the side in the middle was a hill and the other deployment zone had a Magic Circle and an Arcane Ruins. Sam deployed on the side opposite the town and won the roll to go first.

His deployment was very simple, place everything as far forward as it could go and stick the nurglings behind my Temple Guard unit. My deployment put a unit of saurus ready to move up and man a wall on the first turn with support from the Engine of the Gods and two unit of Skink Skirmishers (one deployed in the shrine). Another unit of skinks containing the on foot priest was placed ready to move into the watchtower. The temple guard were placed next to the tower with a unit of saurus, a unit of warriors, and the salamanders to support. I placed my terradons behind the watchtower and promptly forgot to make their vanguard move.

With his first turn, Sam moved everything up, killed some temple guard with some flamers and didn't do much else. He rolled poorly on the winds of magic and Kairos was close enough to the slann to lose his 6 rolls.

On my first turn I moved the priest and skirmishers into the tower. I moved my one unit of saurus up to the wall hoping to take the charge from the bloodcrushers and hoping the wall would give me what I needed to win combat, I moved the terradons towards the engine planning to fly them over the enemy and use the chameleon skinks to hunt down Kairos in the backfield. I moved the skinks supporting the wall saurus up to take a charge from the daemonettes. My saurus supporting my TG moved up to take the charge from one of the bloodletter units and my salamanders moved up and positioned on a slant to take a charge from the other bloodletters (and force an overrun towards the board edge.

In the shooting phase, one of my salamanders misfired and ate 3 skinks. The other successfully landed the template on bloodletters and flamers killing one flamer and several bloodletters. In the magic phase I rolled a 10 for winds of magic and channeled an additional dice. This was followed by a successful magic phase that resulted in me casting Net of Amyntok on the Nurglings (I was worried about them charging my temple guard in the rear), placing a Comet of Cassandora in the middle of the demon line (next to the Bloodcrushers and Flamers). You can see the comet market in the picture below. I also successfully cast either Shem's Burning Gaze or Banishment (can't remember which, might have been both) to do some extra wounds.

In the daemons phase, he charged bloodletters into salamanders, bloodletters into warriors, brought bloodcrushers around to set up the charge on my temple guard, and charged daemonettes into skinks. The below picture was taken just after his movement phase. He also attempted to charge the nurglings into my temple guard but the net of amyntok held and they took damage instead.

From 2010-07-24

From 2010-07-24

When his magic phase hit, I rolled for Comet of Cassandora, and it went off. The marker is the dice next to the bloodcrushers. It dealt severe damage to both flamers and crushers killing one flamer, wounding the herald, and killing one crusher. He rolled double 6s for his winds of magic and I became very worried. He cast the first spell with enough power that it would have taken most of my dispel dice to stop it so I used my Cube of Darkness. I rolled a 6 and ended what could have potentially been a really bad magic phase for myself. His shooting took out a couple of guys (not many). In close combat, his daemonettes killed my skinks to a man and overran into the fortified building where they had to stop (can't overrun into combat with a fortified building). His bloodletters fighting my warriors won combat but I maintained enough ranks to keep my steadfast and held. My salamanders were massacred but one barely survived and fled. He either went off the board or was caught but the bloodletters who pursued were pulled out of position.

On my 2nd turn I charged my stegadon into the daemonettes, my wall warriors into the daemonette flank, and my temple guard into the flank of the bloodletters fighting the warriors. My shooting from chameleon skinks killed some flamers. My skinks in the watchtower unloaded 22 poisoned shots into the remaining bloodcrushers and killed off the herald and another bloodcrusher leaving only a single lone crusher. In my magic phase I was able to successfully cast The Speed of Light and Birona's Timewarp on my temple guard unit giving them an extra attack, WS10, I10, and Always Strikes First. I believe I also got some other spells off.

With it being clear that Sam was about to rapidly lose a full unit of daemonettes and bloodletters, his bloodcrushers had mostly been annihilated, and my chameleon skinks and terradons were closing in on Kairos, while my lizards had taken minimal casualties, Sam conceded.

Lessons learned:
Steadfast is pretty great. Normally my saurus would have booked it after losing to bloodletters they never got to attack. My salamanders not having partials are also pretty awesome now. I love the lore of light, but magic is VERY finnicky now. Sam had no backup plan in the even of bad Winds of Magic rolls and I had pretty good magic defense. This meant I was able to shut down his magic for a full two phases with ease. Cube of Darkness is an excellent item. Now that dispel scrolls are one per army, these items that can end an entire magic phase are suddenly infinitely more useful. My slann can alleviate the risk of a bad roll somewhat through the use of his extra power die discipline. March and shoot on skirmishers is incredibly useful. Terrain is important as if used properly, it can provide several major benefits. There are also some really cool synergies between Lore of Heavens, Lore of Light, and Lizardmen that I picked up on during the game. I think both lores can really complement Lizardmen well.

Lizardmen and Empire Vs. Skaven and Daemons Of Chaos

Steve over at Boisterous Exuberance recently posted a battle report from a 2v2 game we played. Rather than try to best his excellent reporting, I will instead just supplement his post with my thoughts on the game.

1. I liked my new scar veteran setups. Giving the Horned One to a scar veteran with a great weapon proved extremely useful (held the right flank in check for quite a while). I suspect the other scar veteran would have proved equally useful if Howling Gale had not gone off and kept him from his flight move. I was going to attempt to fly him into the blue scribes so that my terradons could focus elsewhere.

2. My terradons once again proved useful but I chose poorly. Howling Gale on the first turn really shut them down and slowed down their ability to do anything. Then I flew them over the Blue Scribes when the Empire pistoliers probably could have handled him on their own. The next turn they were caught in the open again and got shot up by the jezzails. Gotta keep these guys protected better and make sure I use them more efficiently! Maybe I need to take a second unit (I should order some more)

3. Saurus cannot beat bloodcrushers. I need to quit trying to find a way to make it work. Those things are far too nasty and have far too many attacks.

4. I'm not sure I like Lore of Fire very much. My temple guard are really incapable of killing anything in close combat. They are too slow to ever attack first so against any killy unit, the only thing they do for me is not break. I need spells that can hit units in combat with me if I'm ever going to wittle them down.

5. Plague Monks are really good against anything they attack first against.

6. Miscasting a spell, rolling the result that gives your opponent a free cast, and watching him get the 13th spell off is really dumb. I'm glad that miscast option isn't on the table in 8th edition (at least I don't think it is).

7. My temple guard being wiped out and my slann losing combat with 3 wounds on him but rolling double 1s to stay in combat and continue to tie up a giant bloodletters and plague monk unit = win.

8. I think the Empire did all of the work this game. I didn't do much of anything to the enemy and really only served to slow them down. There was just too much hard hitting stuff for me to contain with my 3 blocks.

9. I should have been more aggressive with my engine. It should have charged forward and started dropping burning alignments on everything. It would have been far more useful to me on the right flank and instead it was stuck behind my temple guard unit all game because I was being too conservative with it.

Lizardmen Vs. Daemons Of Chaos Lessons Learned

Some lessons learned from my game against Daemons:

1.  Terradons can be really useful if properly protected.  They are however quite vulnerable when left exposed.

2.  The Shield Of The Mirrored Pool, while a cool item, isn't very great.  It serves as a guarantee that your opponent will only ever cast one magic missile against the unit but that's all.  It doesn't even guarantee that the one cast won't go off.  If you only have one block worth protecting, it is quite good.  If you have several, you need to have other protection on the rest of them or he'll just pick a new target.

3.  Killing Blow is really good against my saurus of all varieties.  I need to be a lot more wary of it in the future.

4.  Bloodcrushers with a Herald are an incredibly scary unit.  I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with it in the future.  They have a huge move range which makes it really hard to divert them for long and I don't really have anything that can kill them effectively.  They are well protected from my magic and they can killing blow any lord or hero I send into combat against it.  Even getting the charge on them is no guarantee.  A carnosaur and oldblood with blade of realities is really the only thing I think has a shot and that is only if it gets the charge.  Even then it might not wipe them out and a single killing blow landed will finish off my general.  I think my best bet is my Engine of the Gods and LOTS of poisoned shots.  If the engine could set up a flank charge, it might be worth it.  A flank charge from a Skink Warchief with Stegadon War-spear is also good but it would probably only ever work in one game.

5.  Blue Scribes can really help an opponent's magic phase and should be sniped/assassinated as soon as possible.

6.  Pink Horrors and Heralds of Tzeentch with the D6 + 1 hits, D6 + 1 S magic missile are not that great.  Odds are one of the dice will be low and completely ruin the spell.  The AE spell is a lot nastier but can be equally inconsistent.

7.  That banner that does D6 S6 hits in an area is really scary.  I need to make sure I alwasy have some dispel dice for that.

8.  My temple guard really are useless in close combat.  Striking last due to poor initiative really hurts them and killing blow effectively bypasses their armor save.  Having them in combat without a good and safe way to negate my enemies ranks is not good.

9.  I need to do a better job of getting the Plaque of Dominion out into the center of the table where it can be seen more easily.  I also need to remember to use it and the Becalming Cogitation when I can.

Overall, I learned quite a bit and hopefully these lessons will help me improve my play.

Lizardmen Vs. Daemons of Chaos

As promised, here is my first battle report in a long time!

My army:

Slann Mage-Priest
 - Focus Of Mystery
 - The Focused Rumination
 - The Becalming Cogitation
 - Cupped Hands Of The Old Ones
 - BSB
 - Plaque Of Dominion

Skink Priest
 - Level 2
 - Engine Of The Gods
 - Dispel Scroll
 - Diadem Of Power

Saurus Scar-Veteran
 - Burning Blade Of Chotec
 - Light Armor
 - Shield Of The Mirrored Pool

Saurus Scar-Veteran
 - Light Armor
 - Great Weapon

3 Terradons

16 Temple Guard
 - Musician
 - Standard Bearer

12 Skink Skirmishers

12 Skink Skirmishers

12 Skink Skirmishers

18 Saurus Warriors
 - Spears
 - Musician
 - Standard Bearer

18 Saurus Warriors
 - Spears
 - Musician
 - Standard Bearer

Daemons of Chaos List (Something like this):
Herald of Tzeentch
Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut
Herald Of Khorne BSB
Blue Scribes (General)
5 Chaos Furies
6 Screamers
2 Bloodcrushers
20ish Pink Horrors
20ish Pink Horrors
5 Khorne Hounds with Karanak
20 Bloodletters

Initial setup from my side:

From Lizardmen Vs. Demons

Initial setup (closer look at daemons):

From Lizardmen Vs. Demons

Turn 1 (Lizardmen):  I get the first turn and move everything up.  I fly my terradons into the jungle.  Not a whole lot gets accomplished this turn.

From Lizardmen Vs. Demons

Turn 1 (Daemons):  Everything moves up.  Harpies fly in front of me to try and force an awkward charge.  A lot of magic gets cast including a magic missile at my shield of the mirrored pool.  With typical luck, I roll the 1, have to eat the spell, and no more spells get cast at the unit the rest of the game.

From Lizardmen Vs. Demons

Turn 2 (Lizardmen):  My terradons fly over the blue scribes dropping only 4 rocks and throwing their javelins.  They manage to do 2 of the 3 wounds to him.  My skink skirmishers along the hound flank get in the way of the hounds to draw them out into an awkward charge.  I kill some of the harbies with shooting and spells but not many.  I set up my skinks on the left to try and force the bloodcrushers into an awkward charge and I move my skinks in the middle up to try and pull the bloodletters into a bad charge.

Turn 2 (Demons):  The screamers retaliate against my terradons killing all but 1.  The Blue Scribes books it to the other side of the jungle.  The hounds charge my skinks, catch and destroy them, but are succesfully pulled out of position.  The chaos furies fly to behind my temple guard unit.  The bloodletters charge my middle skinks which stand and shoot (I should have had them flee) and pursue into my temple guard.  And the bloodcrushers charge my left skinks which flee, are caught, and also manage to hit my saurus block on the left.

From Lizardmen Vs. Demons

After combat my saurus block has been mowed down.  My middle skinks have broken and fled.  It's not looking too good for me.  It is also revealed that the Herald Of Khorne has a really nasty area effect banner and I am out of dispel dice when it is used.

From Lizardmen Vs. Demons

Turn 3 (Lizardmen):  I turn my engine to prepare to engage the bloodcrushers when they come around.  Luckily they are so out of position I won't have to worry about them for a while.  I bring my remaining saurus block around to flank charge the bloodletters on the next turn.

From Lizardmen Vs. Demons

Turn 3 (Daemons):  The bloodcrushers and Khorne hounds regroup.  Blue Scribes pulls in closer near the hounds, bloodletters move more models into base contact, screamers come around, and the horrors move towards my last remaining block.

From Lizardmen Vs. Demons

Turn 4 (Lizardmen):  My saurus block charges the bloodletter flank.  My engine turns around and moves swiftly towards the hounds and scribes.  My last remaining skinks move down to stall the bloodcrushers.  My saurus warriors successfully beat the bloodletters in combat but the leadership roll is good and there are minimal casualties to the unit.  My engine of the gods triggers Burning Alignment and rolls an 11!  The Blue Scribes blow up as do some of the hounds!

From Lizardmen Vs. Demons

Turn 4 (Daemons):  The screamers move up.  The pink horrors charge the flank of my saurus warriors.  The hounds charge the rear of my saurus warriors.  The bloodcrushers charge my skinks, who flee and are caught, but successfully pull the bloodcrushers off at another bad angle.  My saurus warrior unit is demolished in combat, the pink horrors give chase (the hounds do not) and pursue into the back of the bloodletters.  The hounds are stuck in position facing the flank of the pink horrors and my lone scar-veteran escapes.

From Lizardmen Vs. Demons

Turn 5 (Lizardmen):  My Scar-Veteran moves to engage the bloodcrushers.  My engine moves away from them and blows up a bunch of the screamers.  My temple guard end up in combat with the pink horrors after the last of the bloodletters blows up.

Turn 5 (Daemons):  The hounds regroup.  The bloodcrushers regroup.  The screamers fly over my engine and scar veteran which survive.

From Lizardmen Vs. Demons

Turn 6 (Lizardmen):  More combat, more aeing things with the engine.

Turn 6 (Daemons):  The bloodcrushers charge my scar veteran overrunning into the back of the Slann.  They do a wound to him but not enough for half points.  My engine survives. as well.

Final result:  Draw just short of a minor victory in favor of the Lizardmen.  If the game had continued much longer, it might have gone a different way but I'm not sure.  The bloodcrushers were nearly defeated and my engine was still in tact so I would say a draw is a fair call.

Ogres vs. Demons Pre-Game

I'm playing against Sam's Demons tomorrow and I'm planning to field my Ogres against him. I'll be taking the following list.

Core:
3 Bulls
3 Ironguts
8 Trappers
24 Fighters

Special:
1 Scraplauncher
2 Leadbelchers
2 Leadbelchers

Rare:
2 Maneaters with great weapons and heavy armor
1 Slavegiant

Heroes:
Butcher
- Bangstick
- Dispel Scroll
Butcher
- Siegebreaker
- Skullmantle
Bruiser
- Battle Standard Bearer
- Sword of Might
- Luck Gnoblar
- 2 Sword Gnoblar
- 2 Gnoblar Thiefstones
- Heavy Armor

Lord:
Tyrant
- Cathayan Longsword
- Greedy Fist
- Heavy Armor
- Giantbreaker
- Greyback Pelt
- Luck Gnoblar
- 2 Sword Gnoblar
- Wyrdstone Necklace

Full write up with my thoughts behind the list after the game tomorrow.