High Elves

Battle Report

Lizardmen vs High Elves

2500 Points

6/18/2013

Setup

High Elves, Left to Right

10 Silver Helms

Eagle

10 Scouting Archers

5 Fast Cav

2 Repeater Bolt Throwers

30 Spearmen with General, BSB, Hero, Mage, and Champion

2 Repeater Bold Throwers

5 Fast Cav

Eagle

10 Scouting Archers

(I haven't played High Elves enough [read: ever] to know what any of their units are called. So I just refer to Archers and Fast Cav throughout this report. )

Lizardmen, Left to Right

Front:

3 Terradons

6 Chameleons

6 Chameleons

6 Chameleons

3 Terradons

Middle:

29 Skinks and 3 Kroxigor with Full Command and a Skink Priest

Salamander with 4 handlers

29 Saurus Warriors with Full Command and a Scar Vet (Poison Halbert and some Magic Armor)

Salamander with 4 handlers

Rear

10 Skinks w/ Shield and Jav and Slann Mage Priest/BSB

Skink Priest on Stegadon with Engine of the Gods

The Slann is decked out with Ethereal, Crown of Command, +1 Power Die, remove enemy 6's, Forbidden Rod, and the Relic Sword. He is loremaster of Metal.

Pre-game Notes

I haven't played much against high elves, and I haven't read any of their books. So, I'm already failing at The Art of War by not knowing mine enemy. I can see that he has some shooty things, and some horsey things, and a bunch of characters in a block of spearmen.

My plan is to soften the spearmen/character block with magic and hit it with the Saurus (and maybe the Stegadon) and use everything else to weed out the chaf.

I underestimated the High Elf war machines.

Also, our magic phases were an IF fest, but due to a skirmished Slann and the Elf's magic banner, miscasting didn't cause much of a problem.

High Elves Turn 1

High Elves got the first turn. They're all about striking first.

The Silver Helms charged the terradons who stood and shot for no wounds. But they used the terrain to their advantage and the forest took out one of the elves as they charged in.

The first eagle charged the blue chameleons.

The Fast Cav and second Eagle got in between the red chameleons and the bolt throwers

The other Fast Cav went after my other terradons.

One terradon was lost from the unit on the far flank by a barrage of arrows from both the fast cav and scout archers. The remaining terradons anxiously gripped their rocks, ready to avenge their fallen comrade.

Back on the near flank, a few chameleon skinks were dropped by the scout archers. Notice their failure to keep their cool, even on three dice. They took off running.

More Chameleon Skinks were lost (this time from the red unit) to shots fired by the nearby fast cav. The elves will whittle this unit down to a single, brave Chameleon.

The blue Chameleon Skinks took some losses from the charging eagle and decided to turn tail. They didn't go too far, though, and ended up blocking the Skrox unit from coming to their rescue.

Terradons do not last long against Elves that always strike first. The near flank is now wide open to the High Elf fast cav.

Lizardmen Turn 1

The remaining Terradons flew over the nearby scout arches and dropped rocks on them. Crushing 3 elves. Their riders readied their poison tipped javelins.

The Chameleon Skinks on the near flank rallied ... a lot of good it will do them as they can see the whites of the eyes of the oncoming Silver Helms.

The Skrox block readies itself to protect the Lizardmen's flank from the Silver Helms and Eagle while the Blue Chameleons rally and the Salamander gets in position to cook some turkey.

The Engine of the Gods activates its Portent of Warding and advances with the Saurus Warriors as the Slann gets in range to make some golden statues out of the Elves.

The Salamander on the far flank lines up a perfect shot on the Fast Cav.

The remaining red Chameleon is afraid of no ghosts. He runs right up in the face of the bolt thrower crew and readies his blowpipe.

The Slann gets off Final Transmutation on the High Elf Spearmen with Impressive Fortitude!

There will be many golden rewards reaped from this battle. Perhaps the Slann will have a new palanquin built for himself made out of solid elf-gold. The statue of the Elf Hero would be used as a doorstop in his temple.

The golden elves was paid for with the blood of the Slann and two Skinks as the Winds of Magic wafted back in their faces and took its toll.

Salamanders do what Salamanders do (when they aren't eating skinks). That'll teach those elves to line up in a straight line!

High Elves Turn 2

The Silver Helms charged the Chameleons. The skinks fled and were overrun. Another horsemen was lost in the woods, though.

The eagle charged into the blue chameleons who decided to try their luck with mortal combat rather than get pincushioned again by the archers.

The Fast Cav coalesced on the far flank of the Lizardmen, lining up for the Salamander as if it was his birthday.

The Skink Priest atop the Engine of the Gods was struck down by an Increasingly Frustrating Amber Spear. The Portent of Warding bubble had been popped.

The brave red chameleon skink took a bolt to the chest and was no more.

More bolts rained down upon the Salamander.

The archers landed a wound on the terradons.

The other Salamander took casualties from even more thrown bolts.

The blue skinks were reduced to "blue skink" by the eagle.

Many repeater bolt throwers rained down upon he Slann and his Skink entourage.

Lizardmen Turn 2

Not looking too bad for the Lizardmen. The elves are fighting a war of attrition, but the Lizards are aiming for complete decimation of their enemies.

The Skrox turn to face the Silverhelms while the Stegadon lines up for a charge on the eagle.

The Slann moves up to face off with the fast cav. He expects the Saurus to take their time getting into the spearmen, so he feels he can take his time Transmuting the block of spearmen. For the time being, he will take care of the mounted nuisances on his flank.

The white salamander wasn't in the mood to move very far, so he just backed into the woods. Meanwhile, the red salamander got in position to put a hurting on the some archers while the terradons charged the archers on the far flank.

The Slann got off a few spells to try and even the odds of 3 Skinks vs 8 mounted elves. He isn't exactly bullish on the situation that is about to unfold.

Elves die to spit fire. But they do not run.

The cohort of skinks take out two Silver Helms with their poisoned javelins. They are ready to dance.

As the front rank of the Skrox unit was concentrating on killing Elves, a few of the less engaged skinks were watching the last red chameleon get stomped into a pancake by a skink-hungry eagle. They realized that the next stop on the Eagle's buffet was them and ... they panicked. They ran off the board and took the remaining skink priest with them.

The Lizardmen's flank is officially toast.

High Elves Turn 3

With the massive block of Skinks gone, the Silver Helms move forward into the Lizardmen rear.

The eagle that caused the Great Skink Exodus flew out of the way of the Stegadon while the other eagle got in front of the encroaching Saurus Warriors.

The Fast Cav spit up. One unit taking on the Slann and Skinks while the other unit back peddled to tangled with the Salamander.

Archers put a hurting on the Salamander's crew...

...and then a bolt thrower put a hurting on the Salamander.

Magic and Bolt throwers tore up the Saurus Warriors.

The Skinks fought bravely, but in the end only the Slann and Skink Brave remained to face the horsemen.

Lizardmen Turn 3

The Stegadon charged the scout elves. They ran. Elves always run.

The Saurus Warriors charged the Eagle.

The Salamander had a jolt of energy and lined up another shot at the fast cav, but was over excited and spit so far that he only hit one Elf.

The Slann prepared himself and the Skink Brave for the battle ahead with some much needed magic.

The Skink Brave perished in the battle with the elf fast cav, but the Slann avenged him, slicing off the head of one of the elves with his Relic Sword. When the elves ran (elves always run) he chased them down and destroyed them!

The Saurus took care of the Eagle right-quick and lined themselves up fora showdown with the Spearmen. It is a good day to die.

High Elves Turn 4

The Silver Helms tempted fate and came up behind the stegadon.

The remaining eagle flew to the body of his fallen brethren, leaving the Saurus Warriors blocked once again. Also, the Saurus took "a few" casualties from the bolt throwers. Clearly, it is a good day to die.

The Stegadon killed a Silver Helm. But it wasn't enough....

Another Lizardmen unit fled and was run down.

Lizardmen Turn 4

The Saurus charged the eagle. Dinner is served!

The Slann, who was charged in the previous turn by the remaining fast cav decided to go for a long shot. He would suck in as much of the Winds of Magic as he could and focus them all on a big Final Transmutation spell aimed at the far away Scout Archers. His main objective would be to miscast the spell, sacrificing himself as he explodes and takes the elf cav with him!

Success! The Slann created an explosion of magic that decimated every living thing that was close enough to touch him! (only the foolish elves would stand toe to toe with a Slann!)

Then the Saurus Warriors took out another Eagle. It would be a good day to... dine!

 High Elves Turn 5

All the Saurus died....

Lizardmen Turn 5

Once the Slann finished his business with his flank, he turned and took stock of the battlefield. He was a bit shocked to find that while he was putting a hurting on the the elves that dared challenge his flank of the line the rest of his army had been systematically taken apart.

As the Elves closed in on him, the Slann readied himself for a final showdown. He wouldn't go easily into the night! He will not vanish without a fight! He will live on, he will survive!

The Slann let loose sparks of Searing Doom from his toady fingers and fried almost all of the Silver Helms, leaving where they once stood only scorch marks in the shape of their contorted bodies in their final moments.

High Elves Turn 6

The Slann used to lead a mighty army, then he took an Amber Spear in the knee.

Results: There were no more Lizardmen. The High Elves won.

Reflections:

I thought I was in pretty good shape early in the game. Until the Skinks and Kroxigor took off running. Although, I think the game really turned when the Engine of the Gods was disabled. My Saurus Warriors needed its protection from the bolt throwers.

I think if the Skrox didn't run and I had been able to keep the Priest alive, and gotten another Final Trans into the Spearmen before the Saurus hit them, then I would have done alright.

So, basically if all my dice rolls were good and all my opponents dice rolls were bad, I might have had a chance!

I'll look into getting the Priest a better ward save. He was rocking a 6+, but I can do better.

I probably could have deployed my scouts and vanguarded better. But if I had gotten first turn (again, if I rolled better) I would have been in a better position to slow down his bolt throwers.

Maybe I should have focused my Salamanders on hitting the Spearmen instead of focusing them on chaff.

I was pretty excited that my Slann took out a unit in hand to hand combat. (Well, he only killed one guy, but he single handedly overran the rest of them, so that counts!)

Also, I should probably flip through one of the new High Elf books so I have even a single clue about what they can do.