Quake City Rumble – Round 4 – Joey Bravo - Lizardman

The Mission: Greed is Good

Deployment: Blood and Glory

Special Rules: Table Quarters are controlled with fortitude.  Whoever has the most in the quarter holds it and no one does on a tie.  Person with most fortitude gets +1 for determining who deploys first.

Bonus Points: 1 point for controlling any table quarter.  1 point for breaking your opponent’s fortitude.  1 point for controlling more table quarters.  1 point for controlling a quarter in your opponent’s side.

The List:

Slann, General, BSB, Lore of Beasts, Higher State of Conscious, Focused Rumination, Fencer’s Blades, Plaque of Tepok, Crown of Command, Standard of Discipline

Saurus Scar Vet, Cold One, Burning Blade of Chotec, Charmed Shield, Dawnstone

Saurus Scar Vet, Cold One, Armor of Fortune, Luckstone, Venom of the Firefly Frog
Saurus Scar Vet, Cold One, Biting Blade, Glittering Scales, Opal Amulet
Skink Priest, Level 1, Lore of Heavens, Dispel Scroll

35 Saurus Warriors, full command

10 Skinks, Musician
10 Skinks, Banner
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers

5 Chameleon Skinks

Stegadon
3 Terradon Riders

Ancient Stegadon

Salamander
Salamander

This was the lowest comp list that I played all weekend, coming in at 4.5.  Its basic idea is to buff the shit out of the scar vets and have them tank the combats.  I think it would be better in temple guard, with non-mounted scar vets.  Yes they will die easier, but then they couldn’t get cannoned, they would be stubborn and there would be a shit load more of them (like double).  They would also prevent attacks to the unit, who would still be able to step up and attack should the characters die off.  He probably would put the Slann up to just deny the attacks, but that would assume there were no magical attacks in the unit.  The core I would have instead had with more skinks.  But then I don’t think he would have gotten even a 4.5 for that, though I think a 4.5 is much lower than this army deserves.  I think I gave him a 2 or 1.5, which I guess means he should have gotten a 7.5-10.  My version might be a 4.5.

For magic the slann gets wysan’s wildform, amber spear, horror, aminhier and flock (so 2 magic missiles and one don’t march)  The skink takes iceshard.

I roll up searing doom and golden hounds (for the third time).  My Slann, for the fourth time in a row, gets Spirit Leech, Caress, Soul Blight, Doom and Purple Sun.  Joey groans when I roll the purple sun, but how can I default it when I also rolled aspect?  Anyways, its gold against the lizards.

For deployment Joey puts skinks in each corner to deny my scouts back field.  He places his slann just right of center with flanking stegs and then outer flanking salamanders.  The rest of the skinks and terradons take the front line.  I deploy spread out dark riders with alternating harpies in the center and the characters in the back.  The bolt throwers go on the right.

 

We roll and he takes first vanguard, putting his terradons just outside 12 (probably in the hopes that he goes first and can drop rocks and set up to take out both bolt throwers.  Knowing I’m getting the +1 to go first, I don’t vanguard with the center dark riders (nowhere to go anyways but back) but vanguard on both sides.  I also put shades on each side.  He puts his chameleons in line with his vanguard spot for the terradons (I know I said them out of order, but look at the pic!).  We roll off and I get the first turn, yay.

 

On my first turn I of course charge.  Dark riders go into the terradons and harpies into the skinks.  2 harpies die to the stand and shoot.  The chameleons flee a charge from the other unit of harpies.  I move up on the sides, unafraid of counter charges because who cares about skinks?  I roll a mighty 12/6 magic phase.  I Golden Hounds the opal amulet scar vet, doing 3 wounds and therefore voiding his save.  He dispels doom and darkness.  I then irresistiblely caress the slann, doing one wound.  The miscast takes out the rest of my dice.  For shooting I put 2 wounds on the left skinks, panicking them.  Shades do 1 more and the flight put the assassin out of range.  The dark riders pop a skink of the left chamaelon.  I kill 7 skinks on the right without panicking them and kill 1 saurus.  In combat the harpies kill 2 skinks but lose 2, he makes his steadfast.  I kill 2 terradons with the dark riders, and restrain pursuit.  His terradon is now in the way of not only the warriors counter charge but also in the way of the scar vet charging out.  I figure I can clean up the last model later and it’s not worth losing the dark riders.

Due to the terradon being in the way, Joey has no charges.  One unit of skinks flees off table, and the chameleons rally, as does the terradon.  A 9/6 magic phase has me allowing aminhier being cast on the right shades.  With skinks behind them and a salamander and steg nearby, I feel no need to march or charge with them (it’s a shooting rich environment with plenty of support).  He then irresistiblely cast flock on my general but luckily only gets 1 wound through.  I dispel spear at my metal wizard.  The stegs together manage to kill a single dark rider.  The left salamander managers to kill 5 of 6 dark riders.  The other salamander fails to kill even a model from the cursed shades.  The combat sees the harpy killing a skink before dying.

On my turn 2 the left dark riders charge the salamander, which flees almost off the table after being charged a second time.  I then redirect into a unit of skinks but take 2 wounds on the stand and shoot.  The last harpy unit charges that solo terradon.  On the right dark riders charge the salamander into the woods on its flank.  Another unit of dark riders charges the chameleons, which flee towards the saurus.  The single dark rider (and banner) books it back to my left quarter to both live and hold that part of the table.  A pathetic 4/4 magic phase has him dispelling both power of darkness on low rolls.  In shooting I take off 5 skinks on the unit with the banner and character.  I also take off 2 crew and wound the blow pipe steg with the non-marching shades.  My BSB takes off 1 on the small skink unit, which passes its test (my general then takes off two more).  In combat my dark riders kill 2 skinks, not taking off steadfast.  My other dark riders fail to wound the salamander but as he also fails they win the combat and run him down despite being in the forest.  The harpies do a wound to the terradon, but fail to take any, the combat sticks.

On Joey’s turn 2 he brings in the counter charge.  The blow pipe steg (can never remember which is ancient) flanks the harpies, joined by both the saurus rider and the slann (I don’t argue about whether 2 character can charge out of the same unit or not – who really cares?)  The other steg flanks the dark rider/skink combat.  The salamander and chameleons both rally.  A scary 10/5 magic phase has the wounded blow pipe steg getting wild form (I allow it as it only really effects my both thowers – which can’t it – and the assassin who would now need 4s to wound).  I dispel curse on the left shades to hold my options open as that flank collapses.  I scroll flock on my metal as he has the scroll and it would be silly for him to die holding it.  A big amber spear then does 1 wound to my metal caster (phew!) as I fail to dispel it.  In shooting the skinks plink off the charmed shield on the right flank (where the BSB had gone to clean up the unit, if you recall).  In combat both units get smashed (duh!), but I do kill 1 skink with a dark rider.

On my turn 3, dark riders charge the center skinks, which flee, redirecting into the flank of the banner unit (with the scar vet on the wrong side and unable to make way, yay!).  The chameleons flee off the table from a charge, but it costs me a dark rider due to the trees.  I roll a 9/6 magic phase, and throw 2 dice at power of darkness.  He dispels it, and uses 3 dice, making it well worth it.  He then also dispels golden hounds.  Next I power of darkness, but only get my 2 dice back.  I death magic the wounded steg, taking it off the table.  He scrolls Searing Doom on the other steg.  In shooting the shades kill off the salamander on the left.  I put a wound on the rider in the center and kill the terradon.  I also put 2 more wounds on the slann with my general’s magical crossbow.  I kill off the right unit of skinks with my BSB.  In combat I blow through the skinks, making the rider panic and get run down (or off the table, cant recall).

On Joey’s turn 3 he goes into protection mode.  No charges and the two remaining characters book it back into the saurus warriors.  The fleeing skinks rally.  A 7/6 magic phase has me allowing flock on the metal wizard, which does 1 more wound to him.  I then dispel the spear also directed at him.

On my turn 4 I don’t have any charges.  My general moves around behind the warriors, and everyone else moves to surround them.  We all know how its going to go.  I roll an 8/6 magic phase, and Joey agrees that I need to kill the Slann to get all the bonus points and gives me permission to be a jerk.  I then pick up all 8 dice and bowl them at a big purple sun.  I don’t get the 6s but neither does he.  I then roll a 6 for the distance, going all the way through the warriors.  He fails the lookout sir with his slann.  He rolls the slann and he comes up dead.  At that point he tries to concede, but I ask if he minds if we roll it out so that I can finish the story for you, my find readers.  He agrees and we proceed to kill the entire unit with the exception of the champion and the banner.  They then panic.  I get 9 dice back, which would have given me all the metal casting I needed to likely finish off the stegadon, and with my units lined up around the warriors (which would have run towards the center of the table), I’m sure I could have picked off the last 2.

Full points for me and a hard loss from my opponent.  I feel bad for the dick purple sun move.  Note, I don’t feel bad for doing it to Rex in the last round, but I know him and we are friends.  I didn’t know Joey, and so I feel bad for being an ass hat.  I do feel better, in that I confirmed that he through it was the correct move for me to make, not to be a jerk (since I was already clearly up 100 points), but to get the bonus points (and not actually deny him any because I had more fortitude in that quarter than his 4).