The Obsidian Thirst, Battle Reports

[Kayosiv]

Last Updated: May 3rd, 2013
Latest Update: Thread moved back where it belongs in the Battle Report Forum.
Currently working on: Looking for a new game to report for battle #13. Preparing for 2500 point tournament

7th EDITION BATTLES:
Game 1: Purging Infection, Lizardmen vs warriors of chaos. Posts 2-3
Game 2: Rat Poison, Vampire Counts vs Skaven. Posts 18 and 22
Game 3: Dubious Duchesses, Lizardmen vs Bretonnia. Posts 23-24
Game 4: Seeing Shadestars, Lizardmen vs Dark Elves. Posts 26-27
Game 5: Sick and Beautiful, Vampire Counts vs Warriors of Chaos. Posts 31

8TH EDITION BATTLES:
Game 6: Headcount, Lizardmen vs Skaven. Posts 66-67
Game 7: The Temple of Dusk, Vampire Counts vs Warriors of Chaos. Post 4
Game 8: Jaws of Defeat, Lizardmen vs Warriors of Chaos. Post 76-77
Game 9: Once Bitten, Beastmen vs Bretonnia. Post 82. Skype Game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUxII...eature=g-all-u
Game 10: Last Battle for the Temple, Lizardmen vs High Elves. Post 97-98
Game 11: Twice Shy, Lizardmen vs Vampire Counts. Post 101. Skype Game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAJNUmHjwRo
Game 12: Unlikely Allies, Skaven and Vampire Counts vs Warriors of Chaos. Posts 108-109

PURE STORY SECTIONS: The ongoing story of this project log
Red Blades of Vengeance: Post #29
Deadly Shadow: Post #30
Butting Heads: Post #32
Souls Reclaimed: Post #68
Adjust to Change: Post #75
Fighting Fate: Posts #99-100
Desperate Alliances: Post #103

Being inspired by LordofNonsensicalCrap's Battle reports (http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...ht=LoNC+lizard) I'd like to follow suit by giving detailed, humorous, and informative accounts of my coming battles in Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I plan to update continuously (but slowly) on all things having to do with battle reports, models, and the ongoing story for my armies.

Lizardmen Characters notes:

Sotarkesh, Slann: rough translation; Infinite Mind.

A Slann of the 4th spawning; Sotarkesh is an old and very powerful wizard who rules over the temple city of Kotak-Hai. He takes great interest in his meditation and commonly spends the greater part of entire centuries astral projecting to the far ends of the world and some say even the universe. He is awakened only in times of great peril to protect the temple city of Kotak-Hai, much to his annoyance. Woe to any foe who force the great dreamer awake, for none as of yet have survived his wrath for having his meditations disturbed.

Kro'Qua, Old-Blood: rough translation; Dead Blood.

A saurus warrior of extreme age and the last surviving member of his spawning. Unlike most saurus, even those separated from the spawnkin by death, he is considered reclusive and odd. He spends most of his time alone in the jungle on the outskirts of the temple city instead of living with the other saurus. While his behavior is strange, he is supremely loyal to his slann master Sotarkesh. Although he has little patience with skinks, which he considers annoying and weak, he tends to tolerate them for the most part. Usually. This has left him unliked and untrusted by Kotak-Hai's skink-priest council. However, his fighting skills and battle prowess are unquestionable, and in times of extreme need he is called into service to fight and protect his home.

Huan'Qu, Carnosaur: rough translation; Obsidian Moon. Shelved for 8th Edition.

Huini'Zec, Skink Chief: Rough Translation; Insignificant Foe. Huini'Zec is an enigma among skinks. He is the only skink in recorded Lizardman history to be spawned at the same time as group of Saurus warriors. Whether this is an intended exception willed by the Old Ones or a mistake in the great plan caused by the intervention of chaos is the topic of much debate among the skink-priests. The fact remains however that Huini'Zec is a fierce fighter and protector of his homeland. Unlike most Skinks, Huini'Zec is violent tempered, impatient, and brutal; much like his spawn-kin. While processing incredible strength for a skink, he is no Sauru, and isn't nearly as large or resilient to injury as his spawnkin. He makes up for this by retaining the nimble mind and quick reflexes of his skink brethren. Huini'Zec feels cheated by his fate, handicapped by his stature and trapped in a body that he does not belong in. Despite his physical limitations, he feels no fear and fights as bravely as any sauru. He hopes that one day, he can prove this worthiness to the Old Ones through valor on the battlefield, and be given the body that he so rightly deserves. He has great affinity with jungle beasts, combined with his unshakable determination and strong will, he easily subjugates the most fierce of the jungle's prehistoric monsters to be his personal mounts. He proudly claims that no animal can resist his command.

Tenkitza, Skink Priest: rough translation; Recorder of Beginnings. Old, wise, and levelheaded, Tenkitza is the head of the skink priest council and reports directly to Sotarkesh. His knowledge of the stellar constellations and arcane alignments is second to none save Tetto'Eko himself, and his great control over the heavens themselves has aided the lizardmen in battling their enemies countless times. He is the only skink priest with enough arcane attunement and knowledge to properly employ the use of the Engine of the Gods in battle. To war he carries 2 staffs. The snake staff of Sotek helps him channel his incredible astral and geomantic powers. The ornamented jeweled-skull staff... he uses as a walking stick.

Atehe, Skink Priest: rough translation; Knowledgeable of Prophecies.

A young and perhaps a bit impetuous skink priest, Atehe strives to keep up with his scholar master Tenkitza and to prove himself to the council. Having been spawned in an abandoned temple city, he is not entirely trusted by some, and strives with enthusiasm to prove himself worthy of acceptance and to further the completion of the Great Plan. This enthusiasm clashes with his lack of confidence and skittish nature though, causing him to be a bit awkward, if not just emotional, especially for a lizardman.

Kai'Qu, Scar Veteran: rough translation; Ancient Defender.

Introduced in post #32, he is the eternity warden of the Slann Mage priest Sotarkesh. Fiercely protective of his charge, he will gladly sacrifice his life to serve his master. On the battlefield he carries Sotarkesh's battle standard, and often holds back to protect his lord if he is present. He disagrees with Kro'Qua's independent nature and willingness to disobey his Slann overlords. He will be the first to comment if Kro'Qua's loyalty seems to waver or his courage falter.

Vampire Counts Character notes:

Kayosiv, Vampire Lord.

Lord Kayos von Siv is an ancient vampire that remembers serving the great Necromancer Nagash, although it is very dim in his memory. He is haughty, relishing in his power over others and loves to gloat to opponents before delivering the deathblow. He desires power over humans as well as worship to boost his over inflated ego, an ever-touchy subject if he is reminded of defeat or loss. Unlike most vampires, he does not view humans as cattle, but rather as servants. Cattle are unaware of their fate and cannot revolt against a tyrant. Humans are very different. His code of honor still exists, although tainted by countless centuries of evil, it serves as a dampener of his more vile urges. He believes in the chivalry of 1 on 1 combat, and will never break a promise made. While self serving, he is not heartless nor does he enjoy violence simply for violence's sake. He can be reasoned with and has been known to grant mercy to those who beg for it, although always at a price. He believes that knowledge is power, and is always attempting to hone his necromancy and acquire arcane knowledge. He is a powerful but certainly not peerless necromancer, his lacking made up for by his equal pursuit of martial perfection. Not a master wizard nor a perfect combatant, it is his balance of both that makes him so dangerous.

Rupert: Lord Kayosiv's mighty Zombie Dragon Mount. He frequently rides it into battle, and although it has been destroyed many times, he is always able to resurrect the remains with his mastery of necromancy. Rupert retains a limited intelligence, sometimes acting like a diligent puppy, and often forgetting his actual size and power. It is very difficult for Rupert to not accidentally destroy everything in a small radius due to this playful nature.

Kircheck: While Kayosiv urges for political power, Kircheck is content merely to fight. He is no idiot, but he is smart enough to realize that true pleasure in his unlife comes from fighting, killing, and slaughter. The battlefield is his nirvana. Easily bored by the long arching political schemes and magical pursuits of his brother, he often will raise armies solely for the sake of engaging them in grand battles for his amusement. Kircheck relishes in his unlife, often failing to look at the grand scheme of things an immortal existence would allow him proper perspective to see. He cares not for domination, just an excuse to slay mortals. Kayosiv sees his views as irresponsible at best, but knows that his desire to fight for eternity has made him into a supremely competent general and combatant. Although these conflicting viewpoints often put the two brothers at odds, Kayosiv knows he can count on his brother's loyalty. Kircheck secretly fears Kayosiv, for if they were to fight, there is no question who would be the victor.

Redaxe the Slain: The Khornite Lord from the first battle report, now serves Kayosiv in eternal servitude as a wight king. He is currently a near mindless automation, although more is to be done with his personality in the future.

You can view my first battle report here http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...hlight=Kayosiv . It should give some insight into the storyline that develops.

The Story So Far:

A broken body, a look of terror etched into its face, hit the floor with a loud thud. Lord Kayosiv wiped his lips as undead servants shambled into the room to collect the remains. He dismissed them with a wave of his hand, picking up the body and throwing it out the window. Before the corpse touched the ground it was snatched up in the giant maw of Rupert, the vampire's zombie dragon. He figured the beast deserved a treat. If not for Rupert, he wouldn't have made his narrow escape from the Demons of Chaos. He was finally recovering his strength, and revenge would soon be his.

Looking out the window and watching his dragon messily munch on his leftovers, he noticed a black coach approaching from the north; a smile broke on his normally expressionless face. Mentally giving the command to his servants to open the gates, he rushed down the spiral staircase of his tower with unnatural speed. If his brother has succeeded, there was no time to waste. Bursting the door to his keep open, he was met with the arrival of his Brother's black coach, after so many hundreds of years no longer needed to sustain his eternal essence.

"Well!?" Kayosiv demanded, a little harsher then he meant to. It had been over a hundred years since had seen his brother; he was used to dealing with subordinates, not equals.
"You seem to be making a quick recovery" Kircheck snorted, annoyed by his brother's lack of courtesy. He was after all, out doing his dirty work while he was too weak to leave his castle.
"Ah yes, I'm feeling much stronger as of late, and my apologies brother, I am not used to having to anyone to talk to other than my thralls."
"Well then" Kircheck said as he hefted two ornate chests under each arm, "you must have been lonely."
"You've found them both! This is excellent, bring them up to my chambers at once..." Kayosiv paused for a second, "perhaps I'll have my servants take them there. Come, join me in my study, we have much to discuss."
"That's more like it." said Kircheck, finally feeling properly appreciated and handing the remains of Kanzul and Alistair to a pair of approaching skeletal servants. The two vampires began to ascend the stairs, behind them a host of skeletons began to repair the thick keep door that Kayosiv had smashed almost completely off its hinges.

***

Hours later, in his basement laboratory, Kayosiv flipped through ancient tombs older than even he, looking for the answers to his dark questions. Amongst the pile of books he had removed from the shelves, were the two boxes that Kircheck had arrive with earlier, now open, each containing the remains of one of his eternal servants. Kayosiv had been searching for a way to resurrect their undead forms. Normally, it would be as simple as enacting a ritual of resurrection with the blood of some easily attainable mortals, but this was a more complicated matter. They had been destroyed by demonic blades, their eternal souls given pause by the power of chaos. Kircheck, long standing motionless in the shadows of an unlit corner, was nearly bored to tears.

"So, if they were destroyed so easily, why do you care so much about resurrecting them? Wouldn't it be easier to simply create some new thralls?"
"Because dear brother," Kayosiv said, his head not lifting from his research "You cannot put a price on loyalty, and that was something that those two had sworn to me completely. Also remember, they were not destroyed easily by mortal opponents, but those that gave... even me some slight difficulties."
Many words between the two went unsaid. Kayosiv absentmindedly clutched his previously shattered ribs.
"Well, if you wish to resurrect them so badly so be it, but I do hope you won't spend too long down here in this dank hole trying to figure out how. Do remember also that we owe my resurrection to the Tzeench Demon. Without absorbing such vast amounts of magical power from the creature, I may have spent another hundred years trapped and formless in my ..."
Kircheck's words were cut off as a vice-like hand clutched his throat and pinned him against the wall. Kayosiv had flown across the room at lightning speed to silence his brother's words.
"Vengeance will be mine, do NOT forget that" hissed Kayosiv through gritted teeth.
"Of course brother, and I will be the first to help you slay them" Kircheck choked out, his hand ever so slowly reaching for his broadsword.
"Don't." Kircheck's hand froze, and after a few moments Kayosiv released his sibling's neck. Kircheck rubbed the sore spot.
"Have you really grown so cold blooded in my absence? You threaten a kin with death over some words spoken without ill intent. You're even less sociable then I remember."
"what did you say?"
"Understand that I mean no disrespect, but..."
Kayosiv cut him off, "Of course... cold blooded... I've been looking in all the wrong places." Kayosiv whirled around and began taking new books off the shelves and flipping through them.
"Care to share your little epiphany?"
"Of course, one moment" Kayosiv said, still scanning the ancient withered texts. "The answer is not in Sylvania, but rather somewhere much more exotic... ah... yes, YES! Here it is. Ready your Coach brother, and your armies, we leave at once!"
"And where pray tell shall this expedition of yours be taking us?"
"We head to Lustria Kircheck, to the Temple of Dusk. Don't forget to bring your Cadaverous Cuirass."

***

Tenkitza smiled to himself as he waited by the spawning pools. It had long been his duty to greet and record those brought forth from its life-giving primordial waters, and even after so many cycles of the world, he still took great joy in his work. Sacred plaques had predicted a spawning of Saurus warriors that would defend their city in a time of great need. Many were worried this meant a great catastrophe was inevitable, but Tenkitza, in all his years of hearing of such talk coinciding with the spawning of warriors, dismissed it as unfounded paranoia. Interrupting his thoughts of new life to be greeted, Atehe came running at him at full speed, nearly tripping over his own feet while carrying a large golden tablet, a look of frantic worry on his face.

"Master! We must speak, we are in great peril!" Atehe panted, attempting to catch his breath before lifting up the tablet for the elder priest to see.
"Settle down young one, lets have a look at what... oh no..." Tenkitza's face grew grim. The tablet's prediction was without question. A great evil blight was headed towards their home, and at great speed.
"Where did you find this Atehe?"
"It's location was revealed to me in the scrying pools. It was buried beneath a mound of bones near the great shrine of Sotek. I have no idea how it could have gotten there, but we must not worry about that now. Our city is doomed!! We must awaken..."
"Nonsense, I will muster the host to defend our city as I have for generations. This is no different and there is no reason to burden our lord Sotarkesh with such trifles. Now alert Huini'Zech and let him know I sent you, he must know of this at once. I will prepare for battle, meet me north of here with the war-host where the evil is approaching from. Hurry lest we be caught by surprise."
"Yes Tenkitza, I will see you on the field of battle."

[Kayosiv]

BATTLE 1: Purging Infection

Now battle ready and atop a stegadon even older than himself, Tenkitza surveyed the army forming before him. "Xho'za'khanx Xlanax," he spat the words. The warm bloods of chaos had come once again to attempt to finish the work their masters had started so many millennia ago. As always, they would fail. He leaned over the side of the hudah to speak with Atehe one last time before battle.

"Where is Kro'Qua?"
Atehe gave a nervous response, "Nobody could find him, I fear we must face this battle without his might."

Just then a terradon soared overhead, its skink rider jumping off and falling a great distance before slamming unceremoniously onto the ground. The skink's body looked broken and Atehe rushed over to see if he was alright. Seemingly unhurt despite his lack of movement moments ago, a very startled Atehe was shoved aside as the skink arose from the ground.
"I do not need your aid young one" a loud and confident voice boomed from the skink chief, completely contradicting his tiny frame.
"Do not worry Tenkitza, we do not need Kro'Qua, my army is prepared to meet the weakling warmbloods... oh," Huini'Zec stopped mid-sentence.
"We will not have the chance to find out my old friend" said a smiling Tenkitza, an emotionless and silent Kro'Qua standing next to him. He had somehow arrived silently in the few seconds they were all distracted.
"Good, then all is prepared, I shall have their army's standard as a trophy!" Huini'Zec's voice boomed. Turning around, he then ran full speed at a stegadon, leaping a great height to the hudah, and pushed a startled skink crewman off the other side. "This is my mount fool, now go aid the battle elsewhere." Huini'Zec began screaming obscenities at the chaos army's standard bearer while Atehe simply watched dumbfounded and speechless.

Kro'Qua's reptilian eyes searched the battle-line for the lord of chaos leading the army, malice and loathing in his ancient soul, before he went off with the other saurus to prepare for war.

My List: Lizardmen

Characters:
GENERAL: Saurus Old Blood (Kro’Qua): Light Armor, shield, Halberd
Mount: Cold One, suffers from Stupidity.
Magic Items: Glyph Necklace, Venom of Firefly Frog

BATTLE STANDARD BEARER: Skink Chief (Huini’Zec): Shield, Blowpipe
Mount: Stegadon
Magic Items: Dagger of Sotek, Carnosaur Pendant

SKINK PRIEST (Tenkitza): Level 2 Wizard
Mount: Stegadon with Engine of the Gods
Magic Items: Amulet of Itzl, Plaque of Tepok
Spells: Portent of the Far, Celestial shield (big help there), Comet of Cassanova

SKINK PRIEST (Atehe): Level 2 Wizard
Magic Items: Diadem of Power, Dispel Scroll
Spells: Portent of the Far, Second Sign of Amul
Core:
15 Saurus Warriors with full command and spears
10 Skinks with Javelins and Shields
10 Skinks with Javelins and Shields
10 Skink skirmishers with blowpipes
10 Skink skirmishers with blowpipes
Special:
5 Cold one Cavalry with Champion and Standard Bearer
3 Kroxigar
5 Chameleon skinks with Champ
Rare:
2 Salamanders with 4 skink crew

His List: Warriors of Chaos

Characters:
GENERAL: Chaos Lord with mark of Khorne and shield
Mount: Khorne Juggernaut
Magic Items: Axe of Khorne (+1 strength, killing blow), Crimson Armor, Favor of the Gods

BATTLE STANDARD BEARER: Exhalted Champion with mark of Nurgle and shield.
Mount: Chaos Steed.
Magic Items: Helm of Many Eyes (always strike first, stupidity), Glaive of Putrification

Chaos Sorcerer: Level 1 Wizard with mark of Nurgle
Mount: On Foot
Magic Items: Enchanted Shield and the Infernal Puppet
Spells: Magnificent Buboes

Chaos Sorcerer: Level 1 Wizard using lore of fire,
Magic Items: 2x Dispel Scrolls
Spells: Fireball
Core:
16 Chaos Warriors with full command, shields, and mark of Nurgle. Rapturous Standard
16 Chaos Warriors with full command, shields, and mark of Nurgle. Blasted Standard
5 Marauder Horsemen with musician, flails, and javelins
Special:
5 Chaos Knights with musician, standard, and mark of Nurgle. Banner of Rage
Rare:
2X Spawn of Chaos
War Shrine

Deployment:



First thing I want to do is apologize for the picture. This is the first time I am taking pictures for battle reports, and due to the angles it was taken at, due to perspectives, there's an optical illusion that he has 2 units of chaos knights/hounds in the center. This is not the case and they are only labeled once on purpose. We had lots of terrain this game. 3 hills, 2 woods, and a house that we played as impassable terrain. Having a fair number of skirmishers, this benefited me more than him, but it was going to be difficult to maneuver my non-skirmishers through the gaps as I deployed the majority of my heavy hitters on the flanks and left the center open except for a few skinks. I did run into a few problems but for the most part was able to squeeze my units through tight fits when it really counted.

Pre-game Thoughts: I had never seen a Chaos army with 2 huge blocks of warriors before. I'd seen 1 big block, and I'd seen 2 small blocks but dang... 2 Nurgle marked warriors units, BOTH with characters in them and BOTH with magic standards. At first I didn't know even how to deal with them, but quickly devised a plan (I'm so devious). I'd put chump skinks in the center and right flank to keep the warriors busy, along with some skirmishers to pester them from the woods on the right. The Salamanders would stay in the center woods and try to bait the Chaos Knights into it to stop them, or just shoot fire at stuff. On the right flank I had my cold one Calvary and Huini'Zec, on the left I had Tenkitza and my Kroxigar, along with my sauru and Kro'Qua. I was hoping to overpower the Chaos Knights and lord with Kro'Qua, plus Kroxigar, plus Engine of the gods, with Sauru for support on the left flank, and forcing his warriors on the right flank to make the horrible decision of whether they wanted to be charged by a stegadon or cold one cavalry in the flank, all the while pelting him with poisoned blowpipes and sharp sticks. The unit of warriors in the middle I planned to never get in combat with, and just sacrifice my ranked skinks to and flame with the salamanders the entire game and hope they either died or got stuck in the woods or at the wrong end of the board.

Turn 1: Warriors of Chaos

Movement: He won deployment as well as first turn, and opted after short consideration to go first. He moved the majority of his units fairly slowly with the exception of the center spawn and center chaos warriors who moved 11" and 8" up. His fast cavalry bolted to the center of the board, I assume to avoid the wrath of my chameleon skinks. His warshrine, hounds, and Chaos Knights moved forward and angled towards my left flank. The right spawn moved behind the woods to avoid skink shooting, and the Battle Standard Bearer got confused by the whirling images of his helmet and ordered his men to Move directly counter-spinwise at full speed. After much confusion, the unit went stupid and shambled forward 4". The sorcerer in the unit, could not cast spells that round, good for me, an easy round of dispelling.

Magic: With his 2 spells and 4 power dice against my 4 dispel dice and diadem of power, his wizard attempted to cast fireball and magnificent buboes every turn of the game and either failed, were dispelled, or scrolled. There were no irresistible forces, miscasts, or anything interesting beyond him casting and me dispelling for the entire game, so I'm going to remove this phase from the rest of the battle report as it was inconsequential.

Shooting: Similar to his magic, the only shooting in his army was minimal, with a unit of marauder horsemen having javelins. The only thing they ever shot as were my chameleon skinks, which they missed horribly due to their special camouflage rule. Just like magic, the shooting phase on his turn was uneventful and will not be further mentioned save his warshine's blessings. Speaking of, his warshrine drew the attention of the dark gods to his unit of chaos knights, granting them (with a slight modification from the Favor of the Gods) +1 toughness. toughness 5 Chaos Knights... ewww.

Turn 1: Lizardmen

Movement: In response on my left flank, I moved forward with Kro'Qua and my Saurus and angled to the right. Chameleon skinks moved up on the hill for shooting position on the warshrine, regular skink skirmishers not far behind. The Steg and Kroxigar wheeled towards the center after moving up past the house, the kroxigar in reserve, the stegadon moving so Tenkitza would have line of sight to things. On the right flank my 2 units of skink cohorts move up, but not at full speed, wary of the spawn. The skink skirmishers go into the woods, hoping to either draw something inside or to just shoot at stuff unhindered for the whole game. Huini'Zec's stegadon goes off the hill and angles himself so he can get a nice bolt thrower shot into the flank of the center warriors without the blasted standard's 5+ ward save. Their rapturous standard can't protect them from shooting and panic! My Coldone Cavalry zip forward their full 14" movement. I have decided to loop around the woods and hopefully into the flank/rear of the enemy, and am willing to wait until turn 3-4 to do it. Not too afraid of that spawn either, Sauru Cavalry are tough as rocks.

Magic: This magic phase was a disaster. With the thought that I could perhaps eat up some of my opponents dispel scrolls, Tenkitza fired up the Engine of the Gods to make lore of heavens -1 to cast and attempted to bring down a comet upon the heads of the center-most warriors of chaos unit, and promptly miscast. Things went from bad to worse when my opponent gleefully informed me that one of his sorcerers was packing an infernal puppet... So one roll of an 8 later (which he gladly changed to a 10), Tenkitza was now a level 1 wizard. The strength 8 hit wounded but was saved by his Amulet of Itzl. Now I was generating 1 less power dice, 1 less dispel dice, forgot my only offensive magic spell, and no longer had my ward save... I knew I had taken a big risk and lost, and without the added protection of his 2+ ward in any fights, I was extremely wary about getting Tenkitza into combat. Atehe's spells were easily shut down by my opponents 4 dispel dice and he decided to save 1 dice in the diadem of power.

Shooting: Where magic failed I was hoping that shooting would do better. I was planning on trying to thin out that chaos knight unit with my salamanders, but now that they were toughness 5 thanks to the warshrine, that would mean I needed 6's to wound which I didn't think was worth it so I changed targets to the center-most warriors.The salamanders rolled extremely well for this flame template distance, managing to hit 7 and 3 warriors respectively. Unfortunately for me, needing 5's to wound was just too tall an order for my dice to fill, as I rolled ZERO 5's of 6's. That hurt. My shooting phase resolved by my chameleon skinks gettings a few wounds on the warshrine, all of which were saved, my great bow whiffing, and little else. I had hoped to make up for a little bit of the disaster that was the magic phase, and instead dealt 0 wounds to his army.

Beginning of turn 2:


Turn 2: Warriors of Chaos

Movement: His fast cavalry zipped back over to their starting location to throw spears at my chameleon skinks, and miss. His warshrine moved left and angled to create a 4 wound toughness 6 wall between my skinks and their ability to shoot at his knights. His knights moved up slightly and wheeled a bit and his dogs moved up even more. On the right flank, his center warrior unit angles towards my salamanders, while the right one zips down to where it wanted to be last turn before the BSB started giving stupid orders. The right-most spawn came towards the center of the board next to the woods, while the center spawn moved a measly 4" straight towards my ranked skinks.

Shooting: His marauders prove they are better at smashing stuff then throwing stuff by missing my chameleon skinks and the warshine gives the chaos knights the same blessing they already had, followed by... giving him +1 attack. I wasn't sure why he didn't keep the +1 toughness, which I thought was an awesome blessing, but I was soon to find out.

Combat: None yet.

Turn 2: Lizardmen

Movement: Much to my opponents surprise, no charges declared. Kroxigar, skink skirmishers, and Kro'Qua all move slightly towards the center to prepare for the coming apocalyptic clash of the titans that is destined to occur next turn. Tenkitza and his Engine of the Gods move directly up to try and flash fry some chaos marauders and prepare to get into the flanks in later turns. My saurus warriors get into the face of the warhounds, essentially preventing a charge from his chaos knights unit unless he wanted to overrun into the woods. I was attempting to use his own pieces to clog him. This would either delay him a turn while he had to move the dogs out of the way, or charge into a suicidal combat with my sauru. I think my opponent thought I would charge, the dogs would flee, and my charge would fail setting him up for a nice juicy counter-charge next turn, but I was having none of that. The salamanders moved out of the line of sight (behind 2" of woods) of the center chaos warriors, set up in the flank of the chaos knights hoping to kill 1 and force a panic test as well as weaken the unit. 2 ranked skinks units move up, javelins at the ready, Huini'Zec moves up slightly to pressure the chaos warriors in future turns. Cold one Cavalry zip around past the woods and wheel around to face the center of the board. Atehe and right skink skirmishers just stay in their respective woods and sit tight.

Magic: Burning alignment kills a marauder horseman, while Atehe manages to get portent of the far off on the salamanders. Hopefully that might mean I could get some actual wounds on the chaos knights with them this turn. All other magic is dispelled.

Shooting: The chameleon skinks shot the marauder horsemen to pieces, killing another three leaving only 1 left, although with the help of his faith in the dark powers he passed his second panic test. Shot several more skink darts at the war shrine but once again failed to wound it at all. Dang that thing was resilient! The salamanders coughed up some flaming goo at the knights but even with the portent of the far rerolls I couldn't get past his high toughness and armor saves. Skink shooting on the right flank went much better however, although not as good as I'd hoped. The center skinks managed to kill a chaos warrior with javelins, and the unit to the right of them managed to deal 2 wounds to the spawn. The blowpipe skinks on the right did 2 wounds to the other spawn as well. This nearly killed both of them, but I wanted at least one dead. The great blow whiffed once again trying to finish the spawn off. I sure wish I had some large targets to shoot at with it.

Combat: ALMOST THERE~! Turn 3 was going to decide the outcome of the entire left flank and probably the game.

Start of turn 3 Left Flank: Start of turn 3 Right Flank:


Turn 3: Warriors of Chaos

Movement: Charges. Declared. Dun dun DUUUUUN. OK so maybe it was just the war hounds into my saurus, but combat was about to begin. The center spawn charged my ranked skinks, who held, ready to prove their worth to Huini'Zec. My skink skirmishers in the woods proved to have resolves that were not quite as steely, as they failed their fear test and fled from the spawn on the right. On the plus side, that trapped his spawn in the woods for a turn, but it would have been nice to hold. Back on the left flank, the one remaining marauder decided it was better for him to save half his unit's victory points and hightail it out of there, moving towards the center of the board at full march-blocked speed. The center warriors angled towards the center woods, readying for what I thought would be a charge against my salamanders. The right most Nurgle warrior unit angled to the right, keeping both the stegadon and the cold one cavalry in its front arc. There was no way I was winning that combat without a rank denying flank charge, and my opponent knew it.

Combat: My opponent's plan, was for my saurus to slaughter the warhounds down to the last man (dog?), preventing a pursue, and stranding my saurus too far away from his chaos knights to charge, resulting in my untimely charge/demise at the hands of super amped up chaos knights. I allowed this charge to happen because I knew that wouldn't be so. Doing some quick math, I elected to NOT use spears in the following combat. The dogs mustered up an impressive 2 wounds, all they managed to do was break their teeth on my 3+ armor save. In the attacks back, I should statistically get 5-6 hits out of my 11 attacks, 3-4 of which should wound, and that is exactly what happened. My plan was to pursue, then angle my saurus to force the chaos knights (who were obligated to charge due to frenzy) off into the woods to my right. I would then loop around with my stegadon, general, and kroxigar, for a brutal combined triple flank/rear charge. As fate would have it however, the saurus were never meant to be sacrificed in such a way. Easily winning combat, the dogs fled even with their nearby general's leadership and I elected to pursue, rolling AN ELEVEN! This brought me straight into the chaos knights... an unintended charge; The fight was on! Over on the right flank, the center spawn lurched into the brave skinks. Rolling a 4 for his attacks, he hit/wounded 3, but I was able to save one with my 6+ armor save! For my 2 attacks back... I scored a wound! Skinks killed something! In close combat! Did the ground just get colder because I think that certain subterranean areas may have frozen over. A nearby Huini'Zec beamed with pride as his warriors swarmed the monstrous spawn despite their losses, jabbing it over and over until poison coursed through its veins and it moved no more. Well, it did that creepy death twitchy thing, but I don't think that counts. My opponent could only curse his luck as his 55 point spawn was killed by a 50 point unit of skinks.

[Kayosiv]

Turn 3: Lizardmen

Kro'Qua couldn't help himself. Seeing his saurus brethren charge into battle despite his orders stirred emotions in him from ages long past. He reared his mount into a gallop. Strategy be damned, he would rip out the chaos general's throat! A worried Tenkitza could only watch with concern.

Movement: So having "accidentally" charged the unit of chaos knights, I weighed my options. Adapting my plan, I charged with Kro'Qua, with the hope that he could do some serious damage to my opponents knight unit while his chaos lord was trapped in a challenge with my saurus unit champion and unable to fight him. I would then hopefully have about a 50% chance to flee to safety with him, and counter charge with my Kroxigar, hopefully finishing off the rest of the knight unit. With this in mind I angled my kroxigar towards the center, moved both my chameleon and skirmishing skinks up and to the right, and my engine of the gods around the hill. Hopefully all of this combined skink firepower could take out that blasted warshrine and open up my opponents flank. My salamanders back to the right to face the warriors to breathe some more fire goo at them, and Atehe moved out of the woods so if the salamanders had to flee they wouldn't cause him to take a panic test. On the right flank, my skirmishing skinks failed to rally and fled off the board, 0/2 for those guys. Huini'Zec will not be pleased. My two not cowardly skink units angled into the flanks of the warrior units to hopefully pick one off with javelins. Huini'Zec's stegadon moved way up and angled into the flank of the warrior unit with the BSB inside. Huini'Zec had claimed he would get a new trophy and so it must be. You do NOT say no to that guy, he's crazy.

Magic: I threw everything I had trying to get portent of the far and second sign of amul up on the saurus unit or Kro'Qua, but all attempts were dispelled by my opponent, or were halted by his formerly hidden dispel scrolls. They were going to have to win this fight on their own, or die trying. Burning alignment did manage to deal 2 wounds to the warshrine however, so all in all not a bad magic phase, as he had no scrolls left for future turns.

Shooting: Shooting went extremely well. The combined fire of the stegadon crew's javelins, 20 skink skirmishers, and the chameleon skinks, pin-cushioned the warshrine and killed off the 1 remaining marauder horseman. The salamanders rolled very well too, killing 3 warriors. Javelins from the ranked skinks were less effective (read, not at all) but the great bow on Huini'Zec's stegadon managed to roll a 6 and kill one of the warriors of chaos on the right flank.

Combat: This is where my opponent and I got into a rules dispute. I was sure that having killed the warshrine, its blessing would no longer effect the chaos knights, however he insisted that once rolled on the Eye of the Gods table, the blessing was permanent. That seemed a bit crazy to me, as it made sense that without the shrine to attract the gods, the blessing would fade. Regardless, he was positive he was right so we played it his way, which is a good thing too because upon later reading of his book and the WoC FAQ on the GW website, he proved to be quite correct. That meant I was facing 20 strength 5 attacks from the knights, 10 strength 4 attacks from the mounts, 7 strength 6 attacks from the chaos lord with killing blow, and 3 strength 5 attacks from his mount... Maybe Kro'Qua should have exercised more restraint and not charged in...

The Lord of Blood watched as the reptilian creatures ferociously ripped into his dog pack, causing them to yelp and flee in terror, only to be outrun by the brutes and butchered. The blue creatures did not stop there however, and continued running full speed at his unit of elite warriors. Blood for the Blood God, let them come! A primordial roar from the largest of them, covered in red scales, challenged his might. He accepted, eager to add more skulls to the base of Khorne's throne. The red Sauru stabbed both of his spears into the Khone Lord's midsection, with little effect. He responded by hacking off the Sauru's arms, followed by his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another even larger sauru, mounted on a great bipedal lizard charging at them as well, not far behind. He would be next.

I immediately issued a challenge with the saurus warrior champion that the Lord of Khorne accepted with a malevolent smile. More on that later. Despite hitting on 5's, the sauru, no doubt bolstered by the mighty presence of Kro'Qua, managed to get 3 hits and 2 wounds, one of which wasn't saved. Having them kill 1 knight was all I could have asked for, I love my sauru. Not to be outdone, Kro'Qua managed to roll amazing and get no less than 4 wounds with his 5 attacks, 2 of which were not saved. 3 knights down! My saurus champion didn't fair so well however, his attacks bouncing uselessly off of the Lord of Chaos' 0+ armor save. In return, the Khone Lord rolled fairly poorly, but still managed to kill my champion twice over. The 2 remaining knight's furiousity made up for the bad rolls of their lord, hitting and wounding 5 Sauru. I rolled my saves and a 6 popped up against a knight and a 5 against a choas steed, saving two sauru from death. This was crucial, as it meant that he had 6 combat resolution, 3 from kills, 2 from overkill and 1 from banner. I had static 4, combined with my 3 knight kills gave me a combat score of 7. I HAD WON COMBAT BY ONE POINT!!! My eyes watched my opponent roll his break test, an 8 popping up. YES!... NO! I remembered too late that the Chaos Lords have leadership 9, 1 more than the chaos knight's 8, meaning he just barely passed. We were in for another round of combat, and this time he was going to attack first.

Start of turn 4 Left Flank: Start of turn 4 Right Flank:


Turn 4: Warriors of Chaos

Movement: Surprisingly little movement. He did not charge my salamanders like I thought, just moved ever closer to the woods so he was 1" away from them. His other unit of warriors on the far right flank, did not move at all, the chaos banner bearer throwing insults at Huini'Zec calling him a weakling coward with a stupid hat. That would not last for long. His spawn tried to move out of the woods into the flank of my stegadon, but didn't roll nearly high enough.

Combat: Immediately he issued a compulsory challenge with his general, my Oldblood required to accept. This was an opposite of the last combat, where the knights did poor and the general rolled amazing. The knights only managed to kill 2 sauru, one of which was killed by a chaos steed, and my 16 attacks in return managed to wound 4 times and kill a knight back. His lord rolled an impressive 6 hits, I held my breath as he rolled his to-wound dice, and two 6's, a 4 and 5 popped up.

Exhilarated from his fresh kill, the leader of the chaos band wrenched his axe from the decimated remains of the red saurus, and pointed it at the larger mounted lizard creature effortlessly hacking his elite troops in twain. THIS was the challenge he had come here for. The other pathetic weaklings in his army meant nothing. He felt the eyes of Khorne himself upon him. If he succeeded here, his ascension was at hand. His ambition of becoming a deamon prince was within in grasp. Godhood was his, and NOTHING would stand in his way.

Seeing his deliberate challenge, a savage answer erupted from Kro'Qua. The other sauru backed away and descended viciously upon the remaining knights as Kro'Qua and the bloody General of Chaos met in combat. Khorne's champion was impressed by the Oldblood's savagery and strength, but he was no match for his incredible speed. The Chaos lord's armor deflected the blows that his skill could not, and upon discovering a weak spot in the creature's scales, swung his axe mightily at the base of Kro'Qua's neck. The swing was too fast to dodge and blood spurted from the massive wound it inflicted. Kro'Qua blocked the next blow with this shield, but the sheer force of the swing battered his arm aside, leaving his injury exposed. Another mighty arc came at the momentarily defenseless Oldblood, but this time it ricocheted mere inches from its mark. Kro'Qua's amulet glowed brightly as he growled a deep guttural growl. The Choas Lord smiled. Finally, after so many hundreds of years, an opponent who was worthy.

Praise Quetzl!

So of the 4 wounds he dealt me, 1 was saved by armor, which meant I still had 3 more, 2 that were killing blow. The dice shown are my ward save rolls, with that yellowish dice on the bottom of the screen being the one I nominated to save the non-killing blow wound. I had about a 1/9 chance to survive, and made it, suffering a mere 1 wound instead. I was unable to hurt his Chaos lord with my attacks back, but I still won combat because he no longer had a musician. STILL HE HOLDS! There was no way Kro'Qua could get that lucky again.

Turn 4: Lizardmen

Movement: CHARGE! Huini'Zec spurred his great mount into a stampede that slammed into the side of the chaos warrior unit, the saurus cavalry following suit and hitting them in the front. I moved Tenkitza to the flank of the chaos knight combat to aid with magic, burning alignment, and to charge in next turn if it came to that. Both sets of skinks on the left flank moved towards the center of the board, hoping to charge his general and auto-destroy him if he fled and escaped combat somehow. The Kroxigar simply stayed put, their use as a counter-charge still a possibility if my Saurus and general lost combat. Atehe move out of the woods, close enough to cast portent of the far on my general. The center skinks angled to throw javelins at the center chaos warriors the others at spawn in the woods.

Magic: Righteous fire of Chotec bore down upon the Chaos Lord, vaporizing the one remaining chaos knight and wounding the general. The rest of my magic was put into casting buffs on Kro'Qua. Both portent's of the far were dispelled, but second sign of Amul went off and I got 3 re-rolls!. That was just what I needed in order to save Kro'Qua, being able to reroll failed ward saves made me feel more confident about the next combat.

Shooting: Salamanders burned even more chaos warriors, and the skinks on the far side managed to trick the chaos spawn into eating itself. There were no non-skink survivors.

Combat: In the right flank, I rolled well with my impact hits, killing 4 warriors right off the bat. Huini'Zec bellowed forth a challenge, the chaos BSB accepting and went first due to his magical helmet, directing all his attacks at the stegadon, and his horse at Huini'Zec, which he easily fended off. He only managed to deal 1 wound to the stegadon, but that would mean I was s2/t2 after this combat. The stegadon and skink chief both attacked the BSB, but hitting on 5's and his 1+ armor save proved to be too potent a defense and he took no wounds. The Saurus Cavalry managed to kill 2 more despite their impressive 2+ armor save from the front. Man it was nice to be hitting on 4's instead of 5's. The warriors and sorcerer killed 1 knight in return. I won handily and outnumbered him with fear causing models, but when he rolled his break test, on his second attempt thanks to the bsb, he rolled a double 1! I was worried. Without impact hits, spears, or the advantage of going first, I wouldn't win the next combat nearly as easily. On the Left Flank...

That burning light beam had seared his flesh right through his armor. This was his battle, his moment, and that cowardly wizard was trying to rob him of his glory. A curse on him! The Chaos Lord redoubled his efforts against the Oldblood, but the radiant magical fire had weakened him while Kro'Qua had seemed to become stronger despite his injuries thanks to Atehe's magical aid. Their two blades met again, but this time, Kro'Qua overpowered his opponent, slicing deeply into his midsection. The attack cut straight through his living armor and while he was staggered, Kro'Qua's cold one bit out the eye of the Chaos Lord's juggernaut. The beast reared the Chaos Lord off, his waning strength unable to hold on. Landing with a metallic clang, he staggered to his feet and quickly unsheathed two short swords, but fell to one knee as blood poured out of the great wound in his abdomen.
"I am not defeated!" he screamed in defiance, as much at his God as at Kro'Qua. "Your skulls shall decorate the base the great brass throne!"
Kro'Qua simply looked at him for a moment, his expression undecipherable, before letting forth a quiet snarl. At this subtle command the remaining saurus warriors attacked their enemy in a coordinated mass of fury. The dozens of deep puncture wounds received did nothing to halt the Chaos Lord's wrath. He seemed immune to pain and fought back as one possessed, charging into the saurus through a wall of spears and cutting several down. The Saurus backed away from his onslaught, but not to retreat. As soon as they had gotten clear the Chaos Lord was hit with a scalding blast of light from the Engine of the Gods, forcing him face first into the dirt. Smoking and burnt, he planted a shaky hand in an attempt to rise. Kro'Qua leaped off his mount and landed a heavy halberd strike upon his head, splitting his helmet open and slicing deep into the face and scalp underneath.
"NEVER!" the chaos lord screamed, blood dripping from his face, as he unsheathed yet another weapon and stabbed Kro'Qua underneath his chest plate, digging deep into his ribs. Kro'Qua roared in pain before bringing his Halberd down on his opponent's outstretched arm, severing it at the elbow. Kro'Qua's head snapped back with a loud crack as the Khorne champion struck him in the jaw with terrible force from his one remaining hand. He reeled back to strike again, but this time Kro"Qua caught his wrist. Dropping his halberd and grabbing his adversary's broken helmet, he tore the armor off his face, clamped down with his great jaws, and ripped out the throat with a sickening twist. The Lord of Chaos delivered a weak kick to Kro'Qua's ribs, barely missing the embedded sword, before staggering backwards to the ground. A pool of dark blood began to form underneath his body. As his burnt and broken form lay there dying, Khorne's gaze left him; he was no longer amusing.

"So close..." the Lord gurgled, his eyes glazing over, "blood... for the, blood god."
Kro'Qua winced as he pulled the sword out of the wound in his stomach, severed arm still attached in a death grip, and spit out the flesh of his dying rival's neck with a hint of disgust. He then made a deep etch into his shield with a claw, adjacent to 5 similar etch marks. Picking up his Halberd, he decapitated the blind juggernaut with a single stroke. He then remounted his cold one and headed towards the other fighting as the great beast disintegrated into multicolored mist.

My opponent rolled well for his attacks, but when rolling to wound he got a string of 1's and 2's, and of the 2 that did wound, neither were a killing blow. My Oldblood's armor save shrugged them off. That meant that in return, I could use all 3 of my re-rolls on second sign of Amul offensively, and with that help, I scored 4 wounds on the Chaos Lord. All eyes went to the dice, but he managed to save 3 of them. Despite him not dying, with my static combat resolution of 2, plus the wound, it was too much for the Khornite to bear, and he failed his break test and was run down.

Start of turn 5 Left Flank: Start of turn 5 Right Flank:



Turn 5: Warriors of Chaos

Movement: Angling the warriors to charge the skinks, giving up on the salamanders.

Combat: With initiative 6 and having won the last combat, Huini'Zec got to strike first. I kept getting 6's to hit, but then never to wound, so his killing blow proved once again to do nothing. The warriors struck next, but were unable to kill a single cold one knight! The chaos BSB attacked my stegadon, but must've been rather unnerved that his big bad boss had just been beaten down, because after rolling all 3 hits, he only wounded twice against the toughness 2 stegadon, and then I proceed to roll a 6 on one of my 2 scaly skin saves. The Cold one cavalry managed to take down 2 warriors, including the champion. His 2 combat resolution was no match for my 5, and he promptly broke and was run down. Huini'Zec picked up the Chaos standard and broke it over his knee.

Turn 5: Mine

Movement: I surrounded his only remaining unit of chaos warriors and sped everyone who was too weak or too far away to fight to capture table quarters.

Magic: Engine zapped warriors.

Shooting: javalins, salamanders, and general pain into the chaos warriors.

The unit wasn't quite dead yet, but we decided to call the game at this point.



Massacre victory in favor of the Lizardmen!

Post game Thoughts: Yay! The right flank went exactly as I had hoped. Nurgle warriors are tough as rocks, but they aren't immune to psychology nor do they cause fear, and I knew that a combined charge from two fear/terror causing hard hitting units would be enough. The salamanders did an amazing job of thinning out the chaos warriors while never being in any real danger. They never misfired once all game, I dare say this is the best they have ever done. The left flank was a bit crazy, and I was really worried when my shooting on turn 1 and 2 failed to hurt anything and again when the Sauru got their opportunistic charge off. I may have gotten extremely lucky to win that combat, but even if I hadn't it would have only cost me about 500 points, and I could have counter-charged with Kroxigar, then followed his general's unit all game and zap them with burning alignment. I doubt they would have survived past turn 6 even if my general and saurus failed. Still though, what an epic fight. I wish I had gotten more use out of my kroxigar, they seem to always hang back in case I lose a combat so they can counter-charge, but my last 2 games have been massacres and so they sit back and never get to do anything. I guess that's a good thing, but I feel like I could be using them more effectively.

[Seabo]

Well now....
Looking forward to seeing this develop

[Adman]

This looks good. I like that you take an oldblood, i don't see them enough.

[Dungeon_Lawyer]

i like the chiefs fluff--it leaves it open to what he takes: one game a terradon, and maybe next the steg/warspear, cool. My guess is the Skavenpelt banner: it fits the fluff so well, trapped in aesser body but he can buff the saurus he spawned with, super cool.

[Kayosiv]

Writing is underway. Does anyone know how to directly imbed a picture in a thread so you don't have to click a link to see it or to make it bigger? I'd like to get that look, but I'm not sure how to do it. I've seen it in a lot of painting logs though, so I know it is possible.

My first battle went very well, and I'm having a few kinks (skinks?) to work out of the system for next time. I'll need to use a flash on the camera as some of the pictures are too dark, I'll need to make better detailed notes for my next battle. Still, I'm having a lot of fun making this my next project, and hopefully it will be informative and entertaining as well.

[selone]

You can't do it on warseers battle rep thread sadly. You can in M, P and T on warseer and on other web sites battle report threads but not on here.

it's something that annoys Mal

[Kayosiv]

You can't do it on warseers battle rep thread sadly.

it's something that annoys Mal

I CAN SEE WHY! Doh. Oh well. That'd explain why I can't seem to get it to work, it doesn't. Thanks for the info though.

[Toshiro]

Looking great, very good fluff

[Kayosiv]

Looking great, very good fluff

Thanks Toshiro, I'm a big fan of your Arghuz Orghid reports, looking forward to your second game.

Whew finally finished. It seems the problem with this is the same problem I had writing my last report, and that was that it just takes SO LONG! Almost a whole day in total. Am I too long winded? Could be. Writing it was much easier though this time because of the pictures and I took brief notes. I'm quite happy with how it turned out overall, but there's things I'm going to change for next time.

Regarding taking pictures, I'm definitely going to use a flash next time, they just look better and tend to be less blurry. I don't think all of the movement marker indication lines are necessary, as there's already a picture and I am describing movement on top of that. I may still use them, perhaps for charges/fleeing only. Whatever I do with them I will make them prettier next time. Squiggly line arrows may be OK in football playbooks, but I'd like mine to look semi-decent. I'd also like to get better angled shots with the camera, and perhaps some closeups of important fights.

Other than that I just want opinions on reporting style, fluff, and what you'd like to see changed (or more of the same) next time. I'll be having scheduled games every Wednesday for the next few months, so expect a report every 1-2 weeks as time allows. Looking forward to this project, especially as I paint and convert up the rest of my war host.

[Dungeon_Lawyer]

Yeah they do take long--One thing I do is post a real quick post to mark the spot-and then use the edit function to add to it over 3 days or so.

[2099]

That was a pretty snazzy report. I run big ole' blocks of warriors allot, but they spend most the time chopping down tree-folk.

Thanks for including the pics. A little visual aid always helps.

Most unimpressive war-shrine ever.... I have to agree.

[Dungeon_Lawyer]

"So close..." the Lord gurgled, his eyes glazing over, "blood... for the, blood god."

Epic quote! I love it. Great description of the battle....

[Seabo]

Well worth the wait
Loved the fluff too.

[Toshiro]

Thanks Toshiro, I'm a big fan of your Arghuz Orghid reports, looking forward to your second game.

Thank you Kayosiv! I'm glad to hear you like them, means a lot to me

Whew finally finished. It seems the problem with this is the same problem I had writing my last report, and that was that it just takes SO LONG! Almost a whole day in total. Am I too long winded? Could be. Writing it was much easier though this time because of the pictures and I took brief notes. I'm quite happy with how it turned out overall, but there's things I'm going to change for next time.

This report was well worth the wait, just finished reading it up and loved it! I'm also quite long-winded when writing my reports, and I usually don't do it as detailed as you. Taking notes, and above all taking pictures really help speed things up, the overall impression of this report was very good. Rich in detail and fluff embedded on key points to mix fact and narration is always appreciated

Regarding taking pictures, I'm definitely going to use a flash next time, they just look better and tend to be less blurry. I don't think all of the movement marker indication lines are necessary, as there's already a picture and I am describing movement on top of that. I may still use them, perhaps for charges/fleeing only. Whatever I do with them I will make them prettier next time. Squiggly line arrows may be OK in football playbooks, but I'd like mine to look semi-decent. I'd also like to get better angled shots with the camera, and perhaps some closeups of important fights.

I always use flash as well on pictures in my battle reports, i only turn the flash off when taking close-ups for my painting thread. Flash makes the pictures clearer and they are often quicker to take so detracts less from the actual battle when played . The lines are nice I think, but I have chosen not to go with them, as you say it looks a bit more decent without them.

Other than that I just want opinions on reporting style, fluff, and what you'd like to see changed (or more of the same) next time. I'll be having scheduled games every Wednesday for the next few months, so expect a report every 1-2 weeks as time allows. Looking forward to this project, especially as I paint and convert up the rest of my war host.

The fluff both before and during the report was awesome and impressive, th general style of the report is really great, well structured and easy to follow. Just improve the picture quality and you'll have one of the best batrep threads on Warseer . I'm already looking forward to the next battle, as well as seeing more of your units being painted as it goes on .

[Kayosiv]

The fluff both before and during the report was awesome and impressive, th general style of the report is really great, well structured and easy to follow. Just improve the picture quality and you'll have one of the best batrep threads on Warseer . I'm already looking forward to the next battle, as well as seeing more of your units being painted as it goes on .

Wow thank you, what a great compliment. You shall be pleased to know then, that BATTLE #2 was played and I will be in the process of writing its report very soon.

[Kayosiv]

Battle 2: Rat Poison

2250 points.

Kircheck hated this place. It was just so... lush and full of... life. He could feel the heat of the tropical sun boring down on him even though the dark thunderclouds that followed their progress into the foliage. It was bad enough he had to wait around for 3 days while his brother completed the ritual that brought them here, but now he had to be surrounded by this disgusting landscape. Better than the alternative month at sea perhaps, but since his rebirth Kircheck had done nothing but errands for his brother. He had lands to conquer, women to seduce, blood to drink, and not time to waste stranded in this god forsaken jungle surrounded by buzzing insects. He quickened his mount's pace to catch up to the front of their caravan where Rupert, the mighty zombie dragon, was tearing whole trees out of the ground to make way for their passing.

"Brother, we must speak" Kircheck said with a sneer, raising his voice to be heard over the crashing of trees.
"So speak" Kayosiv said, a little puzzled by his brother's sharp demeanor.
"We have been traveling for almost a week. The zombies are falling apart, the skeletons keep getting sucked into bogs, and these blasted insects are driving me batty. How much longer are we to proceed at this snails pace on our journey to the center of nowhere?"
"You wish blood to spill and drink then I suppose? I would have thought a hundred years unable to move in your coach would have taught you a little patience.
"I merely wish to know why you felt so obligated to bring me here. You clearly do not need my assistance walking at the speed of an old crone through the jungle."
"Silence your futile complaining. Your wish has just come true." Kayosiv waved his hand and Rupert obediently stopped crashing through the underbrush and laid on the ground, awaiting a further command.
"So beautiful maidens have begun to fall from the sk..." Kircheck went silent. "What... what are they doing?"

100 yards ahead, scantly visible and only through the vampires' witchsight, stooped figures in filthy robes could be seen dragging large heavily armored corpses into a gigantic pile adjacent to a pot bubbling stink and foulness. There was one hooded figure stirring the pot with a great iron ore, who occasionally would bark an order at his minions and they would dump one of the bodies in.
"Skaven, here?" Kircheck whispered in confusion.
"There was a great battle here" Kayosiv said, his eyes ablaze as he watched the ghostly events of the past dead transpire before him. "The defenders of the jungle defeated a great host of the worshipers of Nurgle. These skaven must be of clan pestilens, harvesting the diseases for their own nefarious ends."
"There are different clans of skaven?"
"Dozens, but we have no time to discuss it, we are being watched."
*Clap *clap *clap "Bravo," a hidden figure high in the trees said, before stepping out into plain sight. "you must be truly observant to notice me, you're the first I can remember since I kill-killed my master. Oh, how I used to love him." The assassin had uncharacteristically good posture for a skaven, and in addition to his pitch-black hooded cloak, he wore white gloves and a warpstone rimed monocle.
"Who are you, and why have you been observing us?" Kayosiv questioned, his hand on his sword hilt.
"Snips Killington at your service dead-thing" the skaven gave a brief but ceremonial bow. "As to why I'm following you, unfortunately for you old chaps we can't have anyone knowing of our little excavation project, so if you don't mind could you please drop your weapons and prepare to be slaughtered?"
Kircheck fought back a laugh, "you... must be joking?"
"Oh my no, attack-attack!"

Camouflaged and hidden skaven appeared from within the trees, beneath the underbrush, and from the forest canopy. Complete chaos erupted as dozens of gutter runners revealed themselves and attacked the vampires and their escort. The two dark siblings slew all who came close, while Rupert snatched up whole mouthfuls of the humanoid rodents in his powerful jaws. Before long, the entire ambushing force lay dead or dying on the forest floor. Snips, having never left his spot on the high branch, was noisily sipping liquid from a small cup and didn't seem to notice or care about the battle until it was over.
"Oh bother" Snips said with a disappointed sigh, "I'll have you know I'm going to have to tell-tell my superiors about this." Kircheck lunged at the ratman but before he could connect, his target nonchalantly dropped from the branch he was standing on and caught it with this tail. Kircheck went careening off into the foliage while Snips dropped nimbly to the ground below his perch and threw a smoke bomb at his feet. Skeletons rushed the smoke filled area and stabbed at it with spears, but he had vanished. Kircheck came roaring out of the jungle.
"Where is he!?" Kircheck furiously screamed.
"Gone," Kayosiv said, mounting Rupert. "Now prepare for battle."
"I will make a bedding out of their skins" Kircheck fumed.
"Well now brother, at least you're not bored."


ARMY: VAMPIRE COUNTS;

My List:
Characters:
GENERAL: Vampire Lord (Kayos von Siv):
Mount: Rupert the ZOMBIE DRAGON
Vampire Powers: Red Fury, Infinite Hatred, Walking Death
Magic Items: Walach’s Bloody Hauberk, Book of Arkhan, Sword of Might
Spells: Invocation of Nehek, Gaze of Nagash, Raise Dead

BATTLE STANDARD BEARER: VAMPIRE (Kircheck)
Vampire Powers: Beguile, Dreadknight
Magic Items: Wristbands of Black Gold, Cursed Book
Spells: Raise Dead

NECROMANCER ("Studge")
Mount: Corpse Cart with Baelfire.
Magic Items: Rod of Flaming Death
Spells: Invocation of Nehek, Raise Dead, Vanhel's Danse Macabre

16 skeletons with full command
20 zombies
10 skeleton warriors with spears
18 Grave Guard with full command and the banner of Strigos
5 Black Knights with barding and Hellknight
2 Cairn Wraiths with Banshee
1 Black Coach

His Army: Skaven
GENERAL: Grey Seer
Mount: Screaming Bell
Magic Items: Scalm, Dispel scroll, Warp-Energy Condenser, 2 warpstone tokens
Spells: Warp Lighting, Crack's Call, Howling Warpgale, Scortch

Warplock Engineer
Magic Items: Shadow Magnet Trinket
Spells: Warp Lightning

Plague Priest: with flail
Magic items: Foul Pendent
Spells: Pestilent breath, plague

Assassin
Magic Items: Warp-forged Blade

20 Clanrats with warpfire thrower
20 Clanrats with rattling gun
20 stormvermin with full command, rattling gun, and storm banner
20 plaguemonks with full command
6 plague censor bearers
7 jezzails with sharpshooter
6 Gutter runners
1 Doomwheel
1 Warplightning Cannon

Deployment:



Pre-game Thoughts: With his jezzails, warplightning cannon, and considerable magic phase, I was worried that my General would get shot out of the sky. I kept him in cover, along with my more important units. I was going to have to deal with his shooting before I could get my dragon out into the open, but if I was able to fly to the left flank to the side of the jezzails, at least I could be protected for a turn and hopefully take out 2 threats in 1 go. I was terrified of that doomwheel, and hoped to clog it with skeletons until my black coach could get in a charge and weaken or destroy it.

Turn 1: His

Movement: To start things off the Doomwheel zooms forward 16 inches towards my right flank. On the opposite flank the plague monks do the same, going forward at nearly full speed and angling slightly to loop around the rocks in future turns. The censor bearers moved up towards the rocks, ready to charge anyone who came out of them on either side. The screaming bell and clanrats all went forward slightly or didn't move, content seeing what I would do with my movement phase. His weapon teams could do more damage to me then the clanrats could, and with my limited range he had no reason to rush engagement.

Magic: With his screaming bell so far back, he wasn't in range for his magic phase to do much. He attempted to cast howling warpgale, but it was easily dispelled.

Shooting: The sheer speed of the doomwheel on turn one had placed it nearest to my Black Coach, its intended target. I was alarmed to find out that the hill offered no protection as zzzap needed no line of sight to fire. I cringed when he rolled an 8 for the strength on the artillery dice, followed by three numbers that weren't 1 to wound. The Black Coach however, confirmed my confidence in its indestructibility by rolling three successful 4+ ward saves. Heh, stupid wheel. His jezzails managed to snipe a few graveguard, and the rest of his shooting missed.

Turn 1: Mine

Movement: The first thing the skaven player did was activate the storm banner, which meant that my dragon couldn't fly. All of my infantry zoomed forward at full speed with the exception of the skeletons on my right flank, who held back and angled towards the doomwheel in hopes that it would roll poorly for its movement and I could get in a flank charge. The Black knights moved just outside of the rocks, ready to move past once certain scouting vermin had been "dealt with." The Black Coach Edged up slightly in hopes the doomwheel would attempt to charge it and fall short, ready to counter-charge. My wraith unit along with lady Cheree the banshee move up and to the left, as did my now on-foot zombie dragon. While I couldn't fly around sewing havoc behind his lines with the storm banner active, I would at least not be shot at in this location. Lady Cheree just wanted to try some rats on the rocks, which was a new popular drink she'd heard about.

Magic: Not much to do here. Kirkcheck managed to boost the graveguard back to full strength (the fool thought he could dispel a roll of a 5 with 2 dice, hahahaha). Gaze of Nagash and several invocations on the zombie unit were dispelled and the phase was over.

Shooting: I rolled well for my banshee howl, but the darn rodents made a bunch of 6+ dodge saves. How you dodge somebody screaming at you is anybody's guess, but it resulted in minimal casualties to the gutter runners.

Beginning of turn 2:


Turn 2: His

Movement: Unlike last turn, his infantry units all moved up at full speed with the exception of his skirmishing units. The censor bearers, satisfied with their position guarding anything that approached the left flank, didn't move at all. Neither did his gutter runners, march-blocking a good 2/3 of my army. The doomwheel rolled extremely high movement for the second turn in a row, but not where I was expecting. I thought that it would go for my black coach, but it in simply wheeled and went in-between it and the skeletons. This was a brilliant move on my opponents part, because this way he didn't have to risk fighting the black coach, still got out of everything's charge arc, and could hit it with zzap in the following shooting phase because my black coach was still the closest target... very Skaveny.

Magic: Now in range to actually cast some spells, the carnage was palpable. When the dust cleared, I had lost an entire rank of graveguard, my zombie unit was below half strength, and I had lost a few spear skeletons too. Ouch. The Black Coach had absorbed a few of his power dice, and good thing too because my dispel attempts this turn were pathetic.

Shooting: The Jezzails found out the hard way that Kircheck had a 3+ ward save against shooting as their strength 6 shots bounced off of him. The warp lightning cannon drastically overshot my grave-guard, only killing 1 model in the very back rank. As good as that part of the shooting phase was for me, the doomwheel was about to show the skaven army how it was done. now rolling a TEN for strength hits on my black coach, he wounded all 3 times, and I only made 2 saves. Being a chariot, the black coach promptly exploded after taking a strength 7+ hit, and I was down 200 victory points.

Turn 2: Mine

Movement: STILL the storm banner stayed active, so I was stuck with a nonflying dragon for 2 turns now. I moved my zombie dragon with Kayosiv on top slightly forward to get the frenzied plague monks to charge me. I wanted the free pursuit. It occurs to me now I could have just charged them. I was worried they would flee but frenzied units are immune to psychology and can't flee anyway... oops. My Black Knights edged up slightly, hoping a banshee howl would finish off the gutter runners blocking their progress through the rocks. Grave Guard, zombies, and Kircheck all zipped forward at full speed. I was hoping to draw the Censor Bearers out of position and only have to fight 1-2 of them, beat them in combat and hold, ready for a charge on the warp lightning cannon in the following turn. My corpse cart didn't move at all, and my banshee unit moved to the right flank at full speed. They were the only thing I had left on the board that could deal with the doomwheel until my dragon could fly again, and I didn't much like the idea of it rampaging around behind my lines shooting lighting at stuff. The spear skeletons flipped around and got into charge position to hit the doomwheel. If I got that charge off it wouldn't hurt it much, but perhaps I could at least pin it in place. My right flank skeletons moved forward at full speed, angling slightly to fight the clanrats.

Magic: I tried to vanhel's danse macabre the spear skeleton unit into the doomwheel, but it was dispelled. I got one successful invocation on the grave-guard, and the rest of my magic phase was dispelled.

Shooting: Banshee managed to kill a few more gutter runners, but they still passed their panic test. I was just going to have to leave them there, the doomwheel was much more threatening at the moment.

BATTLE CONTINUED IN POST #22

[Toshiro]

Wow thank you, what a great compliment. You shall be pleased to know then, that BATTLE #2 was played and I will be in the process of writing its report very soon.

My pleasure and yes, that does make me pleased

The intro fluff to the new battle is great, looking forward to the report

[Malorian]

First battle was great.

Liking the fluff