We house ruled that Orcs and Goblins can take BRB magic lores and that Skink Skirmishers and Cohort Skinks may swap their javelins and shields for short bows. LM Army Lord 410 points Slann Mage, BSB, Standard of Discipline, Scroll of Shielding, Iron Curse Icon, Soul of Stone, Becalming Cognition, 410 points Heroes 230 points Skink Priest L1 Beasts, Sivjer's Hex Scroll 115 points Skink Priest L1 Beasts, Feedback Scroll 115 points I had three scrolls of _____ and didn't use any of them..., Core 770 points 20 Saurus Warriors, FC, HWS 250 points 20 Cohort Skinks, javelins and shield, FC 130 points 20 Cohort Skinks, short bows, FC 130 points 10 Skink Skirmishers, javelins and shield, Champion 80 points 10 Skink Skirmishers, short bows, Champion 80 points 10 Cohort Skinks, javelins and shields 50 points 10 Cohort Skinks, javelins and shields 50 points Special 1130 points 25 Temple Guard, FC 380 points 6 Kroxigor with Ancient 320 points Stegadon no upgrades 215 points Stegadon no upgrades 215 points Rare 260 points 2 Salamander Hunting Pack 130 points 2 Salamander Hunting Pack 130 points O&G Army Lords 600 points Level 4 Orc Shaman with lore of Shadows, Dispel Scroll Orc Warboss, Enchanted Shield, Talisman of Preservation, Basha’s Axe of Stunty Smahin’, Wyvern Heroes 394 points Level 2 Orc Shaman with Lore of Beasts, Lucky Shrunken Head Orc Big Boss, Armor of Destiny, BSB, great weapon Savage Orc Big Boss, Sword of Striking, Opal Amulet Core 769 points 20 Night Goblins, Musician, Standard, 3 Fanatics 27 Savage Orc. Addition big’un additional handweapons, big stabbas, full command 23 Savage Orc. Addition, additional handweapons, big stabbas, full command Special 335 points 5 Squig hoppers Spear Chukka Spear Chukka Spear Chukka Boar Chariot Boar Chariot Rare 700 points Pump Wagon Pump Wagon Pump Wagon Pump Wagon Doom Diver Doom Diver 8 River Trolls Magic Determination Savage Orc Shaman got Wyssans Wildform and Flock of Doom Shadow Orc Shaman got Withering, Okkams Mind Razor, Melkoth’s Miasma, and Penumbral Pendulum My Slann got Throne of Vines, Flesh to Stone, Dweller’s Below, Earthblood Blue Skink Shaman had Amber Spear Green Skink Shaman had Curse of Anaheir (never used) Set up We randomly rolled for all six of the BRB scenarios and rolled a Battleline (again). We ended up rolling relatively little terrain including a normal hill, Wyrding Well, Mysterious River (which turned out to be a River of Light), Earthblood Mere Marshland, and 2 ordinary buildings. (picture is from Midjourney AI) My opponent chose to make the river lay out over a large portion of the table making it something of a larger factor than usual. I guess he had a cool river set with some fork pieces we never used before because I usually place the river and make simple straight rivers. For those not familiar with the River of Light, every time a unit first enters the river, they are targeted by a random spell from the Lore of Light. To randomize it, one player would mix up the seven magic cards and the other player would draw without looking. It seemed like Biorona’s Time Warp came up an awful lot. There was a lot of ambiguous things. A unit normally triggers a spell when they enter a river, but it doesn’t say what happens if they deploy in the river. We ultimately house ruled that nothing happens if they deploy in the river because we didn’t figure out what happens if a spell goes off before the game even started. It is not clear when a spell triggered by the River of Light ends so we ruled on the spot that it lasts from movement phase to movement phase. Birona’s Time Warp increases a unit’s Movement trait. This happens in the middle of the movement phase. We weren’t sure if this meant the unit got the ability to move extra or not. We ruled on the spot no, because we forgot about that aspect of the spell until it was too late to do anything with. Overall, we found dealing with the River of Light more annoying than fun and may or may not house rule it away in future games. My opponent deployed on the left and I deployed on the right. There was a building (house in this case) on both sides of the top of the baord. The Wyrding Well was put in the dead center of the table so we say that our two armies were fighting over it. It's small and unpainted, but you can see on the river. Since we didn't have an Earthblood Mere, we used the Nurgle Pool (the green thing) showcased on Eron's terrain blog. Orc Deployment, Top to Bottom We have a spear chukka in the large house with a group of squig hoppers in front of it. Then a Doom Diver with a chariot in front of it. Then the Wyvern War boss with the river trolls in front of him. Then the Savage Orc Big Un, then the regular Savage Orcs with a Snotling Pump Wagon in front of them. Then a Spear chukka in the back of the river, the Night Goblin archers in the front of the river. Then a pump wagon, then another spear chukka, then another Pump Wagon. Then the Doom Diver with a chariot in front of it, and another pump wagon. Lizardmen deployment, Top to Bottom I deployed ten javelin and shield Cohort Skinks in the river mostly obscured by the house. On the other side of the house was 20 javelin and shield Cohort Skinks, then my six Kroxigor, then a pair of Salamanders, then a Stegadon, then a 10 man javelin Skink Cohort with the Saurus Warriors behind them, then my Temple Guard and Slann, then the other Steggy. Below the river I had ten javelin and shield skirmishers with the other Salamander pack behind them, then I had my archer cohort Skinks on the hill, then I had 10 archer skirmishers in my bottom corner. I lost the roll off and my opponent made me go first. LM Turn 1 Movement Phase Skinks, Salamanders, and Kroxigor which means they can march across rivers. Stegadons and Sauri cannot march across rivers. Most of my aquatic units went forward to the edge of the river. My Kroxigor and two Skink units got Birona's Time Warp. My Salamanders triggered burning Gaze but took no damage. My top most Stegadon which barely clipped the river got Light of Battle. South of the River my Salamanders advanced close to but not in the river and my archer skirmishers went as far as they could. My cohort archers attempted a swift reform to widen their ranks and advance forward six inches, but they failed their leadership test and only widened their formation. The archer Skirmishers marched forward just enough to let everyone shoot. Magic Phase 6 PD versus 4 DD I cast Throne of Vines to get in play and threw threw the rest of my dice at Amber Spear blasting the nearest Pump Wagon to death. Shooting Phase Not a lot of stuff was in range, I inflicted a pittance of wounds on a couple things. The only real difference between this next picture and the previous one is one pump wagon is missing (which happened in the magic phase) There was no close combat yet.
Orc and Goblin Turn 1 Movement Phase and Animosity Despite being in the General and BSB range, the River Trolls failed their Stupidity test on a re-rollable 9. The Savage orc Big Un's advanced a tiny bit to keep pace with the trolls. The other Savage Orcs failed their animosity check and squabbled. The Squigs and Pump Wagons rolled underwhelming random movement rolls but one of then hit my center unit of Cohort javelin throwers. You can see one of them clipped the swamp, but technically chariots only make dangerous terrain tests in marshes when they charge or flee, not random movement. The Boar Chariots were more active, one charging the Kroxigor in the River and the other charging my Skirmishers javelin throwers (who inflicted two wounds with Stand and Shoot). Magic Phase Magic Phase was 6 PD versus 6 DD. My Slann rolled poorly and didn't dispel much despite favorable circumstances. My Slann didn't do much this battle besides serve as a general and BSB but that was enough. He killed four Skinks with Flock of Doom and put a -1 WS hex on the Kroxigor in the river with Melkoth's Miasma. Shooting Phase Night goblin archers plink 3 skinks who don't panic because they were in the Slann's leadership bubble, don’t panic. A Snotling pump wagon threw a spore does no danage. One Doom Diver wounds a Salamander and pastes three handlers. The other Doom Diver targets the other Salamander pack must missed and hit the Kroxigor instead, wounding one. Close Combat The Boar Chariot fighting the Skirmishers killed five of them, broke them and ran then down. The other Boar Chariot killed one whole Kroxigor model and then was pounded into kindling by the other Kroxigor who all were benefiting from Birona's Timewarp which more than made up for their WS hex. The Pump Wagon killed three Cohort Skinks than the Cohort Skinks killed the Pump Wagon (it had taken some damage from shooting last round and had one wound left). Here is what the board looked like at the end of the turn. Lizardmen Turn 2 Movement At the top of the board, my cohort Skinks double charged the Squig Hoppers. My Skirmishers Archers charged a Pump Wagon. My Salamanders advanced a bit. My Saurus Warriors were blocked by their own units, but they went a couple inches. The Temple Guard entered the river as did the Stegadons. All three units that entered the River of Light got Pha's Protection (not that it mattered). My damaged Skink Cohort in the center of the board deliberately marched towards the Night Goblins to within exactly 8 inches to trigger the fanatics. If I was smarter I would have maxed out their movement to kill a couple fanatics but that was not a large mistake. Magic Phase 8 PD versus 6 DD but I didn't roll well and got no spells off that were worth anything. Shooting Phase Shooting went very well for me. The 20 archers on the hill deleted the nearby chariots, avenging the Skink Skirmishers. One Salamander pack killed a troll and the other killed 13 Night Goblins (they rolled snake eyes), so the surviving 7 didn't care. I also plinked a Night Goblin fanatic to death with javelins from a Stegadon crew. Close Combat I won both my close combats and my Skinks overran. End of turn map looked like this
Orc and Goblin Turn 2 Movement Phase and Animosity The trolls failed their Stupidity test again, despite having a re-rollable leadership of 9. Many rolls went in my favor this game, but this is probably the single most important thing. The Wyvern and Savage Orc Big Un's charge my Salamanders who flee. He redirected his charge to a Stegadon. They didn't roll nearly well enough to reach the Stegadon. Another roll in my favor. A Fanatic goes through the remnants of my center Skink Cohort and kills the unit off. A Pump Wagon almost reached my Skink unit with random movement. Another roll in my favor. Magic Phase 6 PD versus 5 DD I rolled well and shut down his attempts to cast Melkoth's Miasma and the Withering. Shooting Phase The two Doom Divers plus a Spear Chukka knock my Kroxigor down to three models. The second Spear Chukka misses and another misfires and takes a wound. Night Goblin archers and Pump Wagon Spore attack accomplishes nothing. Here's what it looked like at the end of the turn. The only real difference from the picture above is fewer Kroxigor. LM Turn 3 Movement, charges Top to bottom, my Cohort Skinks charge the Spear Chukka in the house. My Saurus Warriors, both Stegadons and my remaining three Kroxigor all charge the Savage Orc Big Uns. My Salamanders in the river charged the Night Goblins. My skirmishers archers charged a Doom Diver. Movement, other My fleeing Salamanders rallied. My Temple Guard stopped at the edge of the river, wanting to keep the river between them and the Night Goblin Fanatics. My Cohort Archers towards the bottom of the table advanced a little as did my mini javelin cohort at the top of the table. Magic Phase 5 PD versus 3 DD but I rolled like garbage and cast nothing. Shooting Phase I plinked a Pump Wagon for a wound or two and took a wound off the top most Doom Diver. Close Combat The Cohort Skinks killed the Spear Chukka crew and took the house. The Salamanders butchered the remnants of the Night Goblin archers and overran into the Spear Chukka behind them. The Savage Orc Big Uns were tough cookies, and had some potent characters but they were flanked and faced a lot of Impact Hits, Stomps, and Thunder Stomps, so I broke them fairly easily. One of the Stegadon's pursuit carried it into the other Savage Orc block. After all the dust settled, the board looked like this.
Orc and Goblin Turn 3 Movement Phase He didn't have any problem with Stupidity or Animosity this turn. The Wyvern War boss charges a steggy and the River Trolls charged the exposed Saurus flank. The last Snotling Pump Wagon hit my archer cohort with it's random movement. The fanatics hit the river and killed themselves. Magic Phase All his wizards were dead, but he still generated Power dice which he used to dispel my Throne of Vines on the Slann. Shooting Phase The only thing that could shoot was the unengaged Doom Diver and misfired itself to death which was a lucky break but I could have easily javelined it death next round. Close Combat The Trolls kill five Saurus Warriors who wound one troll in return, I lost by 5 points, but passed the break test with the Slann's Ld 10 (now 5), then reform for more favorable ranks. The Stegadon rolled great on impact hits and stomps splatting 8 Savage Orcs and only taking one wound in return, but it was already wounded from before so it was now on death's door. The steadfast orcs held. The other Stegadon inflicted one wound on the wyvern and took two or three from the Warboss and Wyvern. The stubborn Stegadon held. My Skinks rolled poorly and the Pump Wagon rolled quite well breaking and the unit and running it down. The pursuit carried the Pump Wagon into the hill though it was now on its last wound. The board looked like this. You can see the empty green movement tray where my archer skinks used to be. @eron12 , if you are reading this, I'm supposed to remind me to promote this Snotling Pump Wagon. Eron has his four pump wagons ranked by favoritism based on how cool the model looks and how effective it is in combat. I can't keep track of what their standing is, but I like the one with a silly Ogre pulling it with the carrot in front of nose trick. LM Turn 4 Movement Phase One Salamander pack charged the flank of the Savage Orcs. The other one advanced into the river, triggering a lore of Light spell that didn't really do anything. My Temple Guard Slann bunker advanced a bit. My Kroxigor turned a little bit. My blue Cohort Skinks in the house stayed put and my little green Cohort Unit wheeled a little bit towards the main action. Magic Phase My Slann cast Throne of Vines and Earthblood on himself, healing a nearby Stegadon for two wounds with the Lifebloom attribute. Shooting Phase All my shooters were either out of range or engaged in close combat. Close Combat The Salamander pack and Stegadon killed many Savage Orcs who killed two handlers and wounded a Salamander in return. The Savage Orcs lost combat but held on Steadfast in the general's leadership bubble. The Wyvern Warboss killed the Stegadon and reformed a bit. Orc and Goblin Turn 4 The Wyvern Warboss charged the Salamanders engaged with the Savage Orcs. Magic Phase He used all his power dice to shut down my Throne of Vines Shooting Phase Nothing could shoot. Close Combat The River Trolls route my Saurus Warriors across the River and trigger the Speed of Light Spell.
The rest of the game We were running out of time, so my notes are not very good. My Saurus Warrior block was reduced to just the command crew but they escaped the trolls. For the rest of the game, they moved as far away from the Wyvern as they could. My Kroxigor and Salamanders charged the depleted River Trolls and killed them. I ran the remaining Savage orcs off the board. My Temple Guard played Cat and Mouse unsuccessfully with the Wyvern Orc Warboss. My surviving Skinks played Cat and Mouse unsuccessfully with the last Pump Wagon. View attachment 143510 While avoiding the Temple Guard, the Wyvern War boss killed my last Stegadon and ALMOST took out the Kroxigor unit. View attachment 143509 So I pretty much tabled the Orcs except for the Warboss and a Pump Wagon. Eron completely took out both my Stegadons and one of my Salamander packs and both units of Skink skirmishers and my 20 man archer cohort and one of my ten man javelin Cohorts. Both Skink priests were killed in combat with targeted attacks. I'm not sure exactly when but whenever a Pump Wagon fought a Skink unit with a Skink priest, max attacks went into my Skink Priests. My three surviving Skink units were all down a couple models. My Saurus Warriors and Kroxigor unit were on death's door. My Temple Guard was completely untouched having not fought the enemy all game and were never fired upon. Maybe, Eron could have used the Wyvern Warboss more aggressively early on but he made no real tactical mistakes. Basically luck carried me to victory. We both made a lot of rules and order mistakes. We agreed to play slightly smaller points games (from 2800 to 2500) going forward until our schedules permit us to play longer sessions or we become more efficient players who don't have to pull out the rule books as often. We might revamp the River of Light with our House Rule set because it was a pain in the ass to keep track of.