Beastmen

Battle Report
Lizardmen vs Beastmen
2500 Points
6/25/2013

Setup

Beastmen

Left to Right

4 Minotaur & Doombull
5 Harpies
40 Gor (Hand Weapons)
19 Bestigor with General

Herd Stone & 4 Wizards (1 Lv4, 2 Lv2, 1 Lv1)

40 Ungor (Two Handed Weapons)
5 harpies

Magic: (The Beastmen had a lot of spells)

Wyssans Wild Form

Enfeeble Foe
Occahms Razor

Pit of Shades
Steed of Shadows

Viletide
Brag-scream
Mantle of Ghorok
Savage Dominion

Lizardmen

Left to Right

6 Chameleon Skinks (top left corner)
3 Terradons
Salamander w/ Extra Crew
29 Saurus (Hand Weapons) with Scar Vet
Skink Priest on Stegadon w/ Engine of the Gods
3 Chameleon Skinks (in the trees)
10 Skinks w/ Javelins & Shields and Slann
29 Skinks w/ 3 Kroxigor and Skink Priest
Salamander w/ Extra Crew
3 Terradons
6 Chameleon Skinks (top right corner)

Magic:
All of Metal
Iceshard Blizzard

Characters:
Slann is pretty decked out: Mystery, Rumination, Higher State, Becalming (Loremaster, Ethereal, Extra Power Dice, Ignore 6's)
Relic Sword, Forbidden Rod, Dragonbane Gem, Crown of Command, Standard of Discipline

Scar Vet: Halberd, Venom of Firefly Frog, Lt Armor, Dragonhelm, Talisman of Protection

Skink Priest (Stegadon): Talisman of Protection, Iron Curse Icon
Skink Priest (Skrox): Dispel Scroll

My Plan:
I haven't played much against Beastmen (once against a My Little Pony themed list). We were half way through the game before I got a handle on what the difference between a gor, ungor and bestigor was

I was going to try to take out the big units of 40 with the salamanders and Skink shooting then use the Saurus and Stegadon against the Minitaur and the Skrox against the Bestigor. And hopefully put a hurting on the wizards with the Chameleons and Terradons...

However, the Beastman general had some tricks up his sleeve...

Beastmen Turn 1

The beastmen cautiously approach the Lizardmen army. They want to pick and choose which battles to fight today, rather than have the Lizardmen direct the course of battle.

Noticing some pesky Chameleon skinks sneaking up on both of the army's flanks, the beastmen send some harpies to deal with them.

The Winds of Magic blew in favor of the beastmen 9 - 5.

A blast of Viletide turns out to be incredibly powerful against skinks. It hit 22 times and caused 12 wounds, making it a short day for the Chameleons.

Then they tried to cast Savage Dominion to summon a scary looking giant Minotaur, but the Skink Priest read the ancient words of the Old Ones from his Dispel Scroll and took care of that... for now.

The Beastmen Shadow wizard summoned a Steed of Shadows for the Doombull, allowing him to fly across the battlefield with blood lust clouding his eyes. He would soon feast on Saurus flesh.

Lizardmen Turn 1

The Beastmen's timid advance and lack of any ranged attack told the Lizardmen all they needed to know about their opponent. They wouldn't be rushing into combat today.

The Skrox advanced towards the Ungor, getting within Javelin range, but keeping the charge distance as long as possible.

The Slann gets himself in position for the Magic Phase while the Stegadon lines himself up for a potential flank charge if anything gets into the Skrox units.

Both Salamanders move up their respective flanks and get ready to spit some fiery death onto juicy targets.

On the left flank, the Terradons wiped out a unit of Harpies with their rocks but landed such that they would be able to pick away any uncrushed Harpies. The Chameleon Skinks got up on the flank of the Minotaur and readied their poison blowpipes.

On the right flank, the Terradons couldn't make it over the Harpies so they flew up behind them to shoot some down with their Javelins.

The blue Chameleon Skinks dashed out from the woods in the middle of the field and ran up in between the Gor and Bestigor. They have a mission from the Old Ones to clear the Herd Stone of all casters.

The Saurus ready themselves to take a charge from the Doombull. They are not happy about it, though.

In the magic phase some opportunistic channeling pushed the winds of magic in the Lizardmen's favor 10 - 5. The Slann crumbles away the Minotaur's armor with Plague of Rust and enhances the Skrox weapons with Enchanted Blades, but his attempt to cast Final Transmutation was thwarted by the Beastmen's dispel scroll.

The Salamander gets a perfect shot on the Ungor. He kills 3 of them, but they hold steady even as they watch their kin burn in front of them.

Another perfect shot! This time 5 Beastmen are turned to ash, but the unit holds their ground.

In more shooting, the red Chameleon Skinks kill a Minotaur and the blue unit kills 3 Bestigor.

The Skrox fire off a volley of 21 magical, poison, armor piercing Javelins into the Ungor and kill 7 of them!

Beastmen Turn 2

Beastmen Charge!

The Bestigor and Ungor charge into the 30 strong Skrox unit. The skinks choose to shoot at the Ungor unit.

The Gor and Minotaur charge the Salamander which will flee from the Ungor, leaving the Minotaur to redirect their charge into the Slann and Skinks.

The Doombull charges the Saurus, who accept their fate.

Another 21 shots into the Ungor as they charge kill 8 more. The Ungor pass their panic check, but fail to charge far enough. The Bestigor also fail their charge and only stumble forward a few inches.

The Minotaur and Gor both failed their charges, as well. But the Doombull was not going to be kept from a slaughter.

The Harpies fly away from the Terradons to harass a Salamander.

The Wizards shuffle around a little bit. I suppose to get into range for some more trickery. With no dispel scroll left, it will be a free for all in the magic phase. Only one wizard is in range of the Slann's Becalming Cognition (the bottom left guy), but that wizard isn't in the spell-casting business today.

This magic phase the winds of magic gusted 12 - 4 in favor of the Beastmen.

An IF Viletide took care the Blue Chameleons but the miscast feedback wounded the Wizard and sucked away 3 dice from the Winds.

Throwing everything he had at Savage Dominion, another Irresistible Force left the Lizardmen nothing to do but watch a big scary Giant Minotaur appear behind them... until the summoning wizard tripped and fell down a hole, taking the Minotaur with him!

This was a lucky break for the Lizardmen, and probably the deciding factor in the game.

In the Combat Phase the Doombull tramples over two Saurus as he charges into melee then the Lizardmen Scar Vet challenged the Doombull and was promptly obliterated. The Saurus unit was large enough to pull out a tie in combat, much to the chagrin of the Doombull.

Lizardmen Turn 2

The Terradons on the right flank fly over the harpies, taking out 2 with their rocks.

The Skrox unit moves within short range of the Ungor, setting themselves up for another Shoot/Stand & Shoot combo.

The White Salamander lines up a great shot on the Ungor, and the Red Salamander rallys.

The Slann lines up his Skinks to be able to stand & shoot when they get charged by the Gor and the Stegadon backs himself closer to the Doombull to try to get in range of an Explosive Burning Alignment.

Unfortunately, the Burning Alignment only bubbled out 3 inches and wreaked exactly no havoc.

The Slann had an uphill battle in a 7 - 6 Magic Phase.

First he got off Enchanted Blades on the Skrox again, with Irresistible Force. His Detonation only lost him one power die and because he was skirmishing with the Skinks, nothing was in danger of getting wounded.

Next he attempted to put a Plague of Rust on the Doombull, but the Beastmen wizards dispelled at that in a quick minute.

Finally he attempted to Transmute the Doombull's Lead, but he didn't have enough power to do so...

The Salamanders were on their game today! Another perfect shot kills 9 more Ungor!

Picking on the Ungor some more, the Skrox threw another 21 magic, poison, AP Javelins and killed 6 more Ungor while the Chameleon Skinks took out 2. The depleted Ungor still refused to flee.

In other shooting, the Terradon and Chameleon Skinks on the left flank took down another Minotaur. They were getting picked away, but the Minotaur didn't run.

The Doombull rampaged through 5 Saurus and wasn't even touched in return. This bolstered the Bull's already inflated ego and earned him an extra attack.

Beastmen Turn 3 

This is the state of the board at the beginning of the Beastmen's third turn. He's really hurting without his Level 4 caster, but his Doombull is going to clean up the Saurus soon, and he has a really good chance of taking out the Slann before the end of the game.

The Bestigor and Ungor charged into the Skrox unit again. The Skinks used their quick to fire ability to shoot down the remaining Ungor before they got close enough to hit even a single skink with one of their sticks. The Bestigor were unconcerned about the loss of their compatriots and barreled into the Skinks.

Both the Minotaur and Gor units turned around to start dealing with the annoying skinks that had been picking away at them. They have to survive one more round of shooting, and then it's "good night skinks".

The Harpies fly back to protect the remaining casters and we move on to the magic phase where the Beastmen have a 12 - 5 advantage.

The Beastmen start off by throwing 6 dice at Enfeebling Foe on the Kroxigor unit. Another Irresistible Force!

The Skrox weaken to -3 Strength, but all the remaining Beastmen wizards take a wound and they lose their remaining 6 dice. Thus ends the magic phase.

The Minotaur kills 10 Saurus through a combination of regular attacks, a stomp, and a magic Helm that gives him a return attack for every passed armor save.

The Saurus almost got 3 wounds on the Doombull, but his immense armor kept him from noticing. The Saurus stood stubbornly, and the Doombull racked up another extra attack.

The Skink Champion challenged the Bestigor BSB and dealt an unreturned wound. The Skinks feebly killed a single Bestigor while the Enfeebled Kroxigor took out 3 more.

The Bestigor struck down 6 Skinks and won the combat, but the Skrox weren't going anywhere.

Lizardmen Turn 3

The Chameleons and Terradons ran some circles around the Minotaur while the other Terradons and Stegadon honed in on the Bestigor spell casters.

The White Salamander moved into range to start burninating the spell casters while the Red Salamander started moving back into the battlefield.

The Slann took interest in the Skrox/Bestigor battle and made sure his presence was inspiring them.

The Magic Phase was again 7 - 6, but the Slann pulled out his Forbidden Rod and got an extra 4 power dice... and paid the price by taking 3 wounds.

All sorts of magic was cast this phase. The Skrox were augmented once again with Enchanted Blades, as well as some Glittering Robes for the skinks!

We tried again to put the Plague of Rust on the Doombull but that was barely dispelled. Then the Gor unit was hit with a Final Transmutation and 20 of them were turned to gold!

The remaining Gor panicked and began to fee from the battle field.

As usual, the Salamander got off a great shot on the wizards but they apparently brought their flame retardant cloaks, because none of them took a single wound from the flames.

The Terradons shot down 2 harpies.

The Terradons and Chameleon skinks took out yet another Minotaur. That was the last straw, the Minotaur were sick of being picked at by tiny skinks. They took their ball and went home!

So, the battle went real bad, real quick for the Beastmen.

The Saurus Champion took one for the team and challenged the Doombull. The Doombull punished him with 7 wounds and won combat again. But the Saurus stood in solidarity with their fallen champion.

The Beastmen conceded the game before the Skrox and Bestigor fought their fight.

Results: Lizardmen Win!

Conclusions:
The way we saw the game playing out was: The Saurus were toast, but I would probably be able to keep my Slann out of combat with the Doombull and may have even been able to take him out with a few Searing Doom and Glittering Hounds.

The Beastmen Casters were doomed, and the Skrox would have held on long enough for the Stegadon to come in the rear of the Bestigor (and probably a unit of two of Terradons would have stomped their way into that battle as well)

However, IF the Savage Dominion miscast hadn't gone so terribly wrong, the the Skrox would have probably been torn apart by the Giant Minotaur thing and they wouldn't have been able to stand and shoot away all the Ungor.

The Minotaur and Gor situation probably would have gone the same way, but the game would have still been pretty even by the end of turn 3.

Once again, I find myself in a desperate need to "know mine enemy". I didn't see the "Flying Doombull Speed Charge" trick coming, and I wasn't ready for it. Luckily he decided to try to rack up a bunch of extra attacks by first taking on the Saurus. The game may have gone very differently if he went after the Slann first and killed him in turn 2 or 3.

My Salamanders have never before performed as well as they did today. Usually if I get a good shot off with one of them, I pay for it by feeding them Skinks for the next three shooting phases.