Today I met my friends Warriors of Chaos for the first time, I've played against his empire army several times and we enjoy playing against each other. Meeting a new foe is always exiting. and I read as much as I could about WoC here at lustria to see if I could find some tactics that would fit my current army. We played for 2000 pts standard pitched battle. This is what he brought: (He was friendly enough to share me the list after the game) Will of Chaos: Always reroll falied panic LORDS Sorcerer lvl 3 -Lore of Shadow -Conjoined Homunculus (d3 to casting atempt 1 per turn) -Dispell Scroll -Enchanted Shield -Armour of MOrrslieb (4+ ward against non magic) HEROES Exalted Hero -BSB -Dragon Helm -Halberd -Stream of corruption (Breath weapon S3 AP) -Favour of The Gods (+- 1 Eye of the Gods table) -Collar of Khorne(Magic Res 2, 6+ ward save) this was a standard that gave the whole unit +1 ward and magic res 2 Throgg The Troll King CORE 15 Chaos Warriors -Full command -Mark of Tzeentch -Halberds and shields -Banner of Rage (eternal frenzy) *The sorcerer and BSB went here 12 Chaos Warriors -Standard bearer -Extra hand weapon -Mark of Khorne -Banner of Eternal Flame (Flamming attacks) -Shields 20 Maurauders -Full command -Light armour -flails 5 warhounds SPECIAL 5 Trolls *Troll King stuck with his trolls 5 Knights -Musician -Standard bearer -Mark of Khorne -Blasted Standard (5+ ward against shooting) What I had was: LORDS Slann -Lore of Metal -Focused Ruminition -Focus of Mystery -Becalming Cognition -Cupped Hands -Divine Plaque of Protection HEROES Skink Priest -Engine of The Gods Scar Vet -Shield -Glittering Scales -Burning Blade of Chotek -Dragon Bane Gem CORE 29 Saurus Warriors -Full Command *Scar Vet went here 10 Skirmishers -Javelin and Shields 10 Skirmishers -Javelin and Shields 10 Skirmishers -Blowpipes SPECIAL 3 Terradons 6 Chameleons 6 Chameleons RARE 2 Salamanders -Extra handler 1 Salamander -Extra handler Some thoughts about my list, this was the first time I used Metal, my plan was to lower the warriors armour values and bombard them with poison fire, then let the saurus come in and take care of the weakened units. The salamanders role was to focus on maurauders, trolls and knights. The lore of metal was pretty successful against chaos but I found it pretty boring and limited, much seemed to do the same. And my saurus felt to weak compared to when I'm running life. Also I'm bit concerned that I sink so much point in to the slann, but he's my best tool to tip the scales in my favour. Magic is maybe my best tool to adapt to what's happening on the table and I want to protect the unit that's enabling me to do it. This was also the first time I had ruminition, the look on my opponents face when I told him he couldn't have any of those loveley 6:s he just had rolled was a blast. --------------- DEPLOYMENT --------------- I began deployment and started by placing a skirmisher near the middle, I then tried to match his unit subsequently according to my plan. I used my large number of units to draw out his and tried to give myself advantage. The saurus went fairly in the middle to match his main warrior unit with the engine on side of it to set up a flank counter charge. I managed to sneak in the chameleons on each flank behind his army line, love it when I can do that, always make the opponent uneasy. This is how the table looked after deployment: Love (that's his name) is getting ready to get his ass served1 -------- TURN 1 -------- Warriors of Chaos: My opponent managed to sieze the initiative and moved forward, the magic phase was pretty uninteresting since I dispelled everything and he had no shooting whatsoever. The knights came quite close and could probably make a charge the next turn. Lizardmen: I started my turn with realizing I had forgot the terradons vanguard move, no big deal but still annoying. I moved forward the right flank (skinks, salamanders and terradons) to get them in to shooting range and lead away the marauders from the saurus. I put the steg in a slightly better position. Moved forward the left flank (1 unit of skirmishers and a salamander). Rolled quite good winds of magic (a habit of mine...) and managed to inflict a devastating Searing Doom missile on his knight and wiped out all of them, huge! Lowered the main warrior units armour by 1. He dispell scrolled my attempt to snipe his sorcerer. Main thing that happened in shooting was me being able to make his warhounds flee from chameleon fire, and also one of the salamander inflicted something like 4 wounds on the marauders. -------- TURN 2 -------- Warrior of Chaos: He started by declaring charge against the salamander unit on the left flank with his khorn warriors, I was very uncertain if I should flee or not, but decided against it in fear of he would redirect the charge against the skinks and get a possible flank charge/overrun in to the saurus. He also declared a charge against the salamanders on the other side with his marauders, in this chase I fled though and he redirected the charge against the skinks but failed the charge (or he chose to pursue the salamanders and failed, I don't remember but the result was that he was a bit out of line). Moved the main Warriors and trolls close behind forward. Warhounds rallied. His magic went better this time and he managed to get off two spells, Okhams Mindrazor (the one that let have your init in strength) on the Khorne Warriors and the one that lowers strength(d3) on the saurus (-3) and remains in play. In close combat the khornites annihilated first the salamander and then he overran into the skinks behind, but somehow one skink managed to survive(!). He fled though and was pursued and overrun by the warriors, but now they were way out of line and it would take at least 2 turns for them to be a threat again (although it seemed that they would be able to flank charge the saurus if i didn't move them) I had made the right choice to stay and fight. Lizardmen: The chaos warriors were closing in and the main block would charge my saurus the next turn so I followed the old saying of attack is the best defence and charged the tzeentch warriors. I also managed to charge the unit in the flank with my stegadon. The salamanders rallied. The terradons flew over the marauders in order to drop some rocks, and all the left flank skirmishers closed in on the marauders... I was a bit worried of the possible rear charge from the warhounds but the aspect of peppering the marauders with poison was too tempting My main goal in the magic phase was to get rid of the -3 strength debuff, which otherwise would play a huge role in the upcoming combat. Luckily I dispelled it safely. The enginge unleashed an unimpressive 3 magic attacks on the warriors (didn't get enough range to affect the trolls), killed one warrior. I then proceded with lowering the warriors armour save once more. As my last spell I casted a augment spell on my saurus warriors that gave them +1 to hit and armour piercing. But, here I made a mistake as this also made their attacks magical and this 'activated' the warriors 4+ magic resistance ward save..... -___- Well well. On to shooting. The marauders was bombarded by stones and loads of poisonous shoots, were ones had stood 15 now only 3 were left. Now something very exiting begun, all of suddenly all of his characters started making challanges. I had forgot this rule and found it very amusing. I met his champions challenge with my scar vet, his BSB with my champion and with no one left to challenge the sorcerer was forced to challenge the skink priest... on the ANCIENT STEGADON! My scar vet managed to beat his champion, but it was close, the chaos boys hit hard! I got away with 1 wound left and got 1 overkill wound to count against the combat res. The BSB made minced meat of my champion and got 2 overkill wounds. Now the interesting stuff began, I had already made my impact hits (probably wrongly played, I was a bit eager) so the sorcerer began attacking with his higher initiative, I thought my priest was done for sure. But 2+ armour save is a a blessing! He made enough saves to keep one wound. And then the steg hit back, and boy it hit hard! In a combination of regular attacks and thunderstompm it trampled the naive wizard and earned me some nifty victory points! It didn't look to good for the chaos warriors with thier leader dead but they killed quite a lot of sauruses. The saurus hit back and thanks to the +1 to hit managed to get some wounds in, most of which he saved I belive. As we made the wound count we hade the same I belive (9), but I had 3 ranks, charge + flank charge and so the chaos warriors fled. I pursued and overran them right in to the trolls, did so both with the steg and the saurus. A new round of combat began. The stegs impact hit inflicted 2 wound, which killed a troll which had 2 wounds from before (chameleons). 2 wounds was saved and the troll grew stronger (+1 strength) Due to unlucky positioning only 4 of my saurus was able to attack but one them was my scar vet and he had a flaming sword! He inflicted 2 wounds and good bye to regen The 3 more saurus made some wounds I think as well. But now everyone was hitting on the same init and this is a bit of a blurry to me. What happened though was: -One troll barfed on the Scar Vet and killed him -Throgg inflicted 4 wounds on the steg and another troll finished him off In the end my static combat res (3 flanks and charge) saved the day again and the troll fled. The brave little skink priest who was angry with trolls for killing his steg overran them and hunted them down XD I had in this round killed more than half his army, he had now left: -2 Warhounds -The Khorne Warriors -3 Marauders I combat reformed the saurus and pointed them against the remaining warriors. -------- TURN 3 -------- Warriors of Chaos: Things looked quite bleak on the chaos side. He charged the blowpipes skinks with his marauders but was gunned down before they reached them. The hounds failed their charge and the khornites wheeled in to a better position. That was it. Lizardmen: I used my movement to set up somewhat of a trap for the khorne warriors. I placed the terradons right in front of them so that if they charged them they would get the saurus in the flank. I moved up the chameleons behind the warriors, and placed the right flank skirmishers on the other side of the table around the hounds. Not much happened in the magic phase, I lowered the warriors armour with 1 and inflicted some wounds on them with searing doom. The chamelons took some warriors as well and now there where only 5 left of them. On the other side of the table an unfortunate accident happened, the salamander managed to overshoot their target and hit the chameleons behind, big mistake from my part but I was tired at this point. I should of course hade shot on the hounds with the chameleons first, then the skinks and last if needed the salamander. The hounds died, and so did 4 chameleons, the rest of them fled. I thought this was quite funny. -------- TURN 4 -------- Warriors of Chaos: The remaining warriors charged the terradons, I thought of fleeing with them, but I realized there was a slight chance of the warriors to be able to charge the slann if I did so and I thought that was an unnecessary risk. I had the warriors right where I wanted them. The khornites slaughtered the terradons and reformed so they faced the oncoming saurus. Lizardmen: I charged the warriors with saurus in the front and the chameleons in the flank. This made my opponent happy as his warriors would be able to die with honor in close combat with a sword in their hand. Not shoot down like a rabbit by poisonous darts. The chameleons fled on but stopped right at the tables edge. In the magic phase I lowered his armour once more and gave my saurus the +1 to hit buff (no magic resistance this time). The combat was quick but glorious, the warriors killed a hefty amount of saurus (4 attack each, ouch!) but in the end the saurus finished them off. I had won by total annihilation! no more chaos in the old world In the end I had left: -Slann -16 Saurus -2x 10 Skirmishers -6 Chameleons -2 Fleeing Chameleons -2 Salamanders ------------ SUMMARY ------------ This was a great match, fun as hell. We thought the both of us. But my opponent was a bit bummed out that he had lost so much on failing his break tests. But he still thought it was an exiting game. I understand more and more that this is the key to winning in warhammer, to make your enemy fail his break test in every possible way. This game was very rewarding for me in a tactical way, many of my decisions turned out to be right and I think I used my movement well and to my advantage I'm all in favor for those who say that you win at warhammer in the movement phase. I used to play a lot of chess when I was younger and this was probably the game of warhammer that remindeded me of playing chess the most yet. How you set up traps for your opponent and force them to play how you want to. Great fun all and all. For every game I play I fall more in love with my army. I love how flexible and dangerous the skinks are, and the saurus are rock hard! This was the first time I've taken 30 of them and that seem to be a very good number. Now I felt confident to throw them at 20 chaos warriors and think they could win the fight. They are able to take some beating before losing their effectiveness. The unit I thought underperformed was the salamanders, they're great when they hit and has excellent threat range, but the artillery dice is a bit too random for my taste. Not being able to stand and shot is also a disadvantage. I'm going to try the razordon and see how they compare. Also this was the first time we played on my friends newly built table, and we also had almost fully painted army and great terrain! This filled me with so much enjoyment, and has been my dream ever since I started with the hobby in my early teens. To look down the table and see these two beautifully painted (I'm a bit full of myself but yeah I'm proud ) armies on this lovely battlefield, what a sight! To you that have read through all my rabble, thank you, I hope that you have found some enjoyment from it. I certainly did. Yours truly /Totzro
Hey, nice battle report and a good win! I had a few questions for you: 1) the sorcerer has two items from the magical armour section of magic items. I know chaos sorcerers can take magic armour but is there a rule that allows them to take two or is this an oversight? 2) Lore of Metal seemed to do pretty well against WoC, do you feel this was key to your success? Or do you feel if you had taken life or light that you could have done equally as well? 3) I find a lot of my opponents make sure they don't leave space for chameleons in behind them, though I reckon this is more pyschological than anything else. Do you feel getting a unit behind his line actually helped wound wise or just worried him? 4) in turn one, his Khornites destroyed your sallie and overran into skinks, surely this combat should have been resolved next turn rather than right then? Pg58 brb? I don't really see much WoC and I often worry as I feel their warriors can mince my saurus easily, but it's good to see that you had quite a good time against them, especially the automatic challenge rule!
Thank you! Hmm I didn't notice that, to me it look like an oversight as to my knowledge you aren't able to take to magic armours. But I'm not sure if WoC can override this, have to ask my friend. UPDATE: it was a miss from his part. Lore of Metal was certainly useful, wiping out his knights so early was huge, and neglecting his amour helped me overall. But I feel you can achieve the same by buffing the saurus strength. Half of the spells I barely looked at and I found myself feeling very limited... I think light would have been better as its buffs would have made my saurus go first in the most cases. And life would have added to their survivability. It's hard to say what the outcome would have been, but I don't feel that Lore of Metal was the major aspect of my victory. Yeah this is a rare case for me as well. I think that you shouldn't ignore the psychological advantage, to have a enemy unit behind your "safe line" is never fun and can distrupt your plans. The good thing for the chameleons was that they had free reign to go where they wanted and pick their targets. Also I love to field terradons for this reason: that you can get behind the enemy line on turn one! Holly crap you're right! We have been playing it all wrong. This is quite a game changer. I'm not sure how we missed this, I guess we thought it logical to continue the fight. I'm sure the battle would had turned out much different if we had played by these correct rules. Thanks for the heads up! Yes, the automatic challenge certainly worked in my favour. I think my opponent plays a little less on the cheese than other chaos players (he doesn't like the idea of a chosen deathstar for example) and he's fielding and almost all human force (except for trolls for some reason). I guess that in the most cases find yourself meeting more marauders (kill 'em with skinks), chosen and the hellcannon. But I feel that our army is able to handle anything the other armies can throw at us, with the holy trinity of skink skirmishers, saurus warriors and the slann. (some day I should try to field a list consisting of this only, hmmm....) I hope that answered your questions
Many thanks for the response. I don't usually read battle reports but randomly read yours and found it thoroughly enthralling. I really enjoyed that as well as having all the information and what killed what, giving a good story, you also had a part at the start and end where you analytically discussed the army and the key actions. I found this exceedingly interesting and helpful in improving what I know about WoC as I rarely see them (never even played them in a tournament either). Thanks for taking the time to record and report your battle.
Cool battle report, thanks for sharing! And it was great you had pictures also. Made me think "Hmm, so THAT'S how my Saurus will look on the table..." About the overruns into unengaged enemy, yeah, there was a mistake there. You also overrun the Steggie and others into the trolls and fought immediately. According to the rules, you fight those battles on the next turn as normal. Same if you overrun into an engaged enemy that has already battled that turn. But, if the engaged enemy hasn't battled yet, then you get another turn of fighting!
Thank you all for the nice feedback, it warms my heart For me that was one of the reasons I wrote the rep in the first place, to give myself some time/space to analyze the game properly, if you don't do that. How can you expect to be better? And also I thought it could be interesting for others as well, so this is great for me to hear that you found the information helpful! I will definitely continue write reports in the future. Things how to improve them that comes to mind is: -More pictures -More notes during the game from my part -A statement from my opponent on the game @Caprasauridae: Yeah, we've played it wrong the whole time since we started with fantasy around christmas. I can't figure it our how we missed this. We're of course gonna play it right in the future. Thank you for the nice comment, it is lovely to play with a painted army! EDIT: I found some pictures that my friends girlfriend (who was rocking her dark elves and kicked som skaven ass!) took:
Oooh, thanks for sharing those, especially the Terradon pics! I was just glueing mine together, can't wait to start painting them, they are not the coolest models around, but seem like great fun to paint! I'm all worked up right now...
Hi i think magical attacks does not trigger Magic Resistance's ward save. magic resistance in BRB pg72 says it only provide ward saves against dmg by spells. i don't think the buff makes the attacks spell dmg.
Hi, you're right, that's another miss to add to our account. I guess I thought it made sense and therefor didn't object to it but know we now that isn't so. Magic res is kind of useless imo.
Ditto, it's one of the few army books I haven't read. Anyway I like the highly detailed battle report