The Obsidian Thirst, Battle Reports

[vinny t]

Glad to see you're back! I absolutly agree with your feelings toward the new vampires, the added options really help the list. What's your planned list?

Also your Zomble Dragon is now playable. You can make your general practically impossible to hit in close combat with Glittering Scales, Dread Knight, and the Zombie Dragon's Cloud of Flies, and it is really easy to heal with the new lore attribute and invocation.

[Kayosiv]

Ah Vinny, you're always there put me in a good mood. Even 1 fan is a huge motivational force. To answer your question, I don't think I'll be changing my list too much from previous versions. The exception is I'm likely to field some Vargheists and might throw a necromancer in there since they are actually useful. My book is in the mail currently so I'm not aware of the exact point values for things but I'll give you a rough estimate of my planned list.

Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon about 625 points. I'll really have to read the book to see how I kit him out. I like a balance of fighty/casty.
Vampire Hero on horseback meant for close combat, about 150
Wight King BSb about 125
Vampire Caster about 175

For core I plan to go a unit of skelies maybe 30 strong or so with a banner and frills, 180.
A big unit of zombies, 40-50 strong, not sure yet. about 120.
A unit of Ghouls of about 25-30. About 300.
A unit or 2 of dogs, for now lets say 40 points.

For Specials I was really toying with the idea of taking no grave guard and getting a unit of 6 crypt horrors to just be the ultimate anvil unit. Getting combat resolution against toughness 5 regenerating monsters is going to be tough for any foe, and hit in the flank by hard hitting elites or a dragon would spell doom for almost any unit in the game without flaming attacks or massive magic buffs. I ultimately decided against it though because strength 6 grave guard at toughness 4 and 5+ armor are still fairly survivable against strength 4 and 5 attacks, but will put out far far more damage. In short, I'd rather lose more models and put out 3 attacks at strength 6 with killing blow then lose less models and attack with 3 strength 4 poison attacks for approximately the same price.

So, unit of grave guard, probably 25 maybe 30 strong with a banner, about 350 points.
Unit of 3 Vargheists (I love these things) about 150 points.
Unit of Black Knights, I'm thinking 6 strong, about 200 points.

That's pretty much all I have room for at 2500 points. I'd like to have a black coach and a wraith/banshee unit but I'm not sure if I'm willing to drop heroes or my zombie dragon to get it.

I'm undecided on the crazy new toys like the Coven throne or the Mortis engine because I haven't had a chance to read all of their rules specifically yet. It would be cool to have a terrorgheist in the rare slot too, especially considering if it means my zombie dragon can get some relief from artillery fire while they shoot it down. I'll have to really crunch the numbers in actuality when I get the book in my hands.

Also it is my experience that the general is virtually never attacked. They ALWAYS go for the dragon because it's armor is terrible and it lacks a ward save. Now this may change because it is toughness 6, but I doubt it. Glittering scales will be overkill, because most opponents will be hitting the vampire lord on 5's anyway and I'd rather have a decent armor or ward save for the points then have me only hit 6's without adequate protection or costing too much. Costing too much is a big problem, because you can easily make yourself a 700 point Vampire Lord on a Zombie dragon and I'm trying to squeeze him into 625 so I can play at 2500 points. Dreadknight is a problem because I don't want to get stuck in challenges. The mounted challenge rules for 8th edition are horrendous and gimp the zombie dragon. Hitting elven lords on 3's or being hit on 6's by those with weaponskill 4 isn't worth it to me I don't think, I'll have to experiment. Depending on the specific rules of the nightshroud it may be worth taking. If it's all models in base contact I'll definitely consider it. If it's all models that strike the wearer (such as glittering scales) I'll pass it over for likely an enchanted shield or a charmed shield.

What excites me now is that with 6 wounds and -1 to be hit because of cloud of flies, it takes on average 12 attacks to kill it assuming they wound 100% of the time, or 9 if you have re-rolls. Since just about nobody is capable of getting that many attacks in 1 combat round. This is a very huge difference before when it had 5 wounds because your average Lord + big monster attacking it had somewhere between 8 and 10 attacks and it was very possible that it could die in a single round of combat before it got a chance to fight back. The extra wound and toughness (as most powerful lords are strength 7) make ALL the difference in keeping the zombie dragon alive long enough to heal it.

I'm actually kind of glad it went from weaponskill 6 to 4 as well. It makes it a lot easier for enemy elites to hit now, but from a fluffy perspective it was always stupid that it was that good of a fighter. The points drop was needed, and that was the most logical way to make it cost less points. The dragon being easier to heal makes me a happy camper. Looking at my hero allotment though I may have to take out my wight king for more casters. 8th edition isn't one that promotes use of multiple level 2's over a level 4. I'm sure I'd straight up be in a more desirable position if I just transformed my zombie dragon into a level 4 necromancer, but I"m hoping I'll be able to avoid this.

Also, I'm a tad committed to the zombie dragon at this point...

Work in Progress Shot.

[meowser]

I think you should go for the Terrogheist-Zombie Dragon due That would be some solid target saturation. Maybe drop the black knights to get points for the TG. Running them close by would help alleviate the problem of keeping TG in march range normally had with generals on foot.

[Kayosiv]

I'm hesitent to drop them for 2 reasons.

1. I have run with a unit of black knights since 5th edition and they have never steered me wrong, winning the game for me on more than 1 occasion.
2. I just spent $30 on the new models.

I could cut grave guard, which I am also uneasy about since they are my only good infantry anvil. More than likely I'll cut the Wight King BSB and downgrade one of the vampires into a cheaper necromancer to save on points. I'll have to see once I get the book with some real numbers in front of me.

I'd also really like to try out Bat Swarms with their "give anyone they touch always strike last" rule. That sounds like dynamite tactically and something I really want to try. I've long since cannibalized all my bat models to use as base decorations and the like because they were so worthless in previous editions. I'll have to see how they go in a few test games.

EDIT: I've began repairing the broken pictures in the previous battle reports. Hopefully the rest of them will be fixed soon. So far, battle 1 and 2's pictures are working properly.

EDIT 2: All pictures on all pages appear to be working properly.

EDIT 3: Turns 1 and 2 for battle # 5 completed.

[Kayosiv]

Battle 5 completed. See post #31. I Will be writing some fluff and starting on battle 6 over the next few days. I notice that when I say that 6 months tends to go by, but I'll do my best to make sure that doesn't happen this time.

[Kayosiv]

Battle 6, Headcount: 2500 point pitched battle.
Scenario: Meeting Engagement.

My Army: Lizardmen
Characters:
GENERAL: Oldblood (Kro'Qua) with shield.
Mount: Huan'Qu, Carnosaur
Magic Items: Armor of Destiny (heavy, 4+ ward), Piranha blade (2X wounds), The other trickster's shard (models in base contact re-roll successful ward saves)

SKINK PRIEST (Atehe): Level 2 Wizard. Despite what the deployment picture says, it is in fact Atehe, as Tenkitza is recovering this battle.
Mount: Stegadon with Engine of the Gods
Magic Items: Amulet of Itzl, Plaque of Tepok
Spells: Harmonic Convergence, Curse of the midnight wind, Chain Lightning.

Scar Veteran BSB (Kai'Qu) with great weapon.
Mount: Cold one
Magic Items: Armor of Fortune (heavy, 5+ ward), venom of firefly frog (poisoned attacks).

18 Saurus warriors with full command
23 Saurus with spears and full command
10 skinks
10 skinks
10 skink skirmishers with blowpipes
10 skink skirmishers with blowpipes
5 chameleon skinks with stalker
3 Kroxigar
1 Ancient Stegadon
2 salamanders with extra handlers

Opponent's Army: Skaven
Characters:
GENERAL: Queek Head-taker

Grey Seer, level 4:
Magic items: Skalm (heals to full wounds, 1 use only)
Spells: Skitterleap, Warp Lightning, the Dreaded 13th, and Crack's call.

Warplock Engineer, level 2:
Magic items: Shadow magnet trinket (-1 to be hit at range for entire unit)
Spells: Warp Lightning, howling warpgale.

25 clanrats with doomflayer
25 clanrats with ratling gun
25 stormvermin with full command, warpfire thrower, and stormbanner (Queek's bodyguard)
25 plague monks with full command
6 poisoned wind globadiers with poisoned wind mortar
9 Gutter Runners
7 Jezzails with Champion
Hellpit Abomination
Doomwheel
PlagueClaw Catapault
Warp Lightning Cannon

Deployment:Left Flank Deployment: Right Flank


Pre-Game Thoughts: I had a pretty strong center battle line, but the issue was the Hellpit Abombination on the left and the Doomwheel on the right. I was worried about the doomwheel taking on my stegadons and worried about the Hellpit taking on my entire army. He had enough clanrats surrounding it that shooting it with skinks wouldn't be effective for more than 1 turn, so I figured that I'd have to throw my carnosaur at it and hope it didn't roll a million attacks. I felt like him putting his grey seer out in the open was risky business with all my skink shooting, so I was going to try to take care of him that way. I wasn't sure what I was going to do about that doomwheel other than hope I could charge it and get lucky. His clanrats and plaguemonks were no match for my suarus, but Queeks elite storm vermin bodyguard were another matter. My plan was to whittle them down as much as possible with salamander shooting and avoid engaging them if possible. My opponent got first turn, which worried me greatly because he had a fair amount of shooting and artillery with which to whittle down my numerous monsters.

Turn 1: Skaven

Movement: The clanrats and their weapon team on the left flank move up at full speed. The gutter runners spread out in the woods and move forward. The hellpit abomination zips forward straight at Kro'Qua on his carnosaur. Queek's personal guard with him in toe move up along with their weapon team but not quite at full speed. The censor bearers then move in front of them creating a ratshield that I'll have to deal with before I get into Queek's unit. On the right flank, the clanrats and plaguemonks move forward towards my battle line at full speed. The doomwheel rolls forward towards my red stegadon just to the right of the wooded hill.

Magic: The skaven player rolled pretty poorly for magic dice, getting a low number. He attempted to cast skitter-leap with his grey seer to get in range to cast spells, but he rolled a 1 and that disrupted his magic phase. The warplock engineer casted warp lightning on my salamander unit, but Atehe managed to dispel it with no ill effects.

Shooting: The plagueclaw catapult aims a perfect shot on top of my leftmost skink unit and gets 8 hits, wounding with ALL EIGHT (that's a 4+ on 8 dice). They pass panic, but that unit has been essentially reduced to uselessness. The jezzails aim at Atehe and his Engine of the Gods, but are unable to wound the toughness 6 creature. The warp lightning cannon has similar luck, only rolling a 4 for strength when targeting Atehe and failing to wound the stegadon itself or Atehe (it rolled a 1). Most of the crew are killed however.

Turn 1: Lizardmen

Movement: On the left flank my reduced skink unit moves up into the woods hoping to throw 2 javelins at the Hellpit abomination and maybe die a heroic death as it crashes into them, diverting it from my lines for a turn. I move my Carnosaur and Kroxigar up to threaten the Hellpit abomination if he doesn't take the skink bait. My full skink Cohort unit, which is no match for 25 clanrats or gutter runners, angles to the right and moves towards the center hoping to accomplish more there in later turns. My center line moves directly forwards at full speed with the exception of my battle standard bearer Kai'Qu who stays behind my battle line to provide re-rolls if need be. On my reight flank, my red Ancient Stegadon and skink skirmishers move up to shoot at and threaten the doom-wheel.

Magic: Atehe manages to roll an 11 on 2 dice to cast Harmonic Convergence on the spear Saurus, which my opponent doesn't bother to dispel. He then rolls his 6 remaining dice at Comet of Casandora targeted at Queek and his bodyguard only to roll a measly 15. The Grey Seer throws his 5 dispel dice at it and stops it easily.

Shooting: My opponent immediately activates the storm banner, making much of my shooting phase useless. My salamanders manage to roll their 4+ to be allowed to shoot, but the first shot is very short and only manages to kill 1 rat and the second shot misfires and roasts 2 skinks. The rats pass their panic and a lot of ineffective skink shooting later, the phase ends with virtually no casualties.

End turn 1: Left Flank End Turn 1: Right Flank


Turn 2: Skaven

Movement: On the left flank, the clanrats, ratling gun, and gutter runners all move up. Queek and his storm vermin unit move towards teh center of the board to face my infantry blocks, and the hellpit abomination attempts to charge my Carnosaur but doesn't roll nearly high enough. On the right flank the Doomflayer charged the salamanders (which in hindsight I should have fled, I had never faced one of them before and got it confused with the warp grinder), the clanrats charged my larger saurus block that wasn't clanrats, and the doomwheel charged my red stegadon, unfortunately rolling high enough to make it. The plagemonks moved to the center to go around the wooded hill and the plague mortar shuffled around a bit.

Magic: Huge magic phase for my opponent here as he rolls 8 dice and channels twice for a total of 10 against my 6 dispel. I manage to stop a warp lightning, but the skaven player throws 6 dice targeting my smaller saurus block with the dreaded 13th spell, getting irresistible force and turning them all into clanrats. He didn't have the models to represent them but we agreed he could just "take control" of the saurus unit and that it would have the stats of a clanrat unit for the rest of the game. The miscast result didn't do any harm to his grey seer but wounded his warplock engineer. His final spell is a skitterleap that brings the grey seer into the smaler wooded hill on the right flank.

Shooting: To start the phase, the storm banner fizzles out. With the failed hellpit abomination charge, the jezzails take aim at the carnosaur but are unable to do any damage due to the hindering terrain bonus offered by his own units (despite the rather tall version of my model, it is not a large target). The plagueclaw catapault attempts to land on my larger saurus block but misfires and allows me to pick a new target. Unable to restrain myself from the delicious irony, I target the formerly saurus new clanrat unit, killing 5. The Lightning zzzap from the doomwheel manages to put 4 wounds on the ancient stegadon and the plague mortar scatters off into nowhere. The Warp Lightning Cannon targets my BsB but fizzles for 0 strength on the bounce roll and does no damage.

Combat: The ancient stegadon is killed by doomwheel impact hits before it can even fight back and the doomwheel gets a free overrun. The clanrats literally get their unit cut by a third by the larger saurus block who roll amazingly well and get 9 wounds, breaking them and running them down. The salamanders get totally devastated by the doomflayer... that thing packs a punch!

Turn 2: Lizardmen

Movement: The saurus unit on the right flank, fresh from their clanrat massacure, declare a charge into the plague monks, ready to test their mettle against a special choice after handily carving up some core. I Charged my BsB scar-veteran into the new clanrat unit but rolled terribly and they easily escaped. Kro'Qua and his Carnosaur declare a charge into the hellpit abomination and hope for the best. My skink cohort on the left keeps moving towards the center of the board while my skirmishers set up for shots on the doomwheel and the grey seer in the woods. My Kroxigar move up onto the larger wooded hill on the left flank, ready to either support in the hellpit abomination fight or charge the gutter runners in later turns. Atehe on his Ancient stegadon with engine of the gods accessory spins around butting the skirmishers between him and the doomwheel. They are angled in such a way that if the doomwheel tries to charge Atehe, he will hit the skirmishers and be diverted off when he overruns. Lastly, the 2 remaining skinks on the left flank move deeper in the woods, hoping to accomplish something before the game ends.

Magic: I only roll a 3 for the winds of magic and my attempted harmonic convergence on Kro'Qua is dispelled by the grey seer's 2 dice with an exact roll.

Shooting: Lots of shots fired at the doomwheel but they all bounce off of its toughness 6 or 4+ armor save. The skink skirmishers do a tad better however, and manage to do 1 wound to the grey seer with their 10 shots.

Combat: On the right flank the spear suarus repeat their awesome performance and rip into the plaguemonks who despite having twice as many attacks as the clanrats, inflict 0 wounds. The Sauru kill enough skaven to deny them of steadfast and the unit breaks but manages to roll high enough to easily escape. In a titanic battle on the left flank, the carnosaur and the hellpit abomination rip huge chunks out of each other, inflicting 3 wounds to each other a piece. Kro'Qua manages to inflict 2 more that are unsaved by regeneration and thanks to his Piranha blade, kills the nightmarish creature. The overrun takes the carnosaur into the unit of plague censor bearers which will have to be fought in the following turn.

End turn 2: Left Flank End Turn 2: Right Flank


Turn 3: Skaven

Movement: The big surprise here is that the doomwheel doesn't charge my skinks, but rather angles up to bypass them. This was unfortunate because zzzap lightning will now target the stegadon instead of the skinks. I really need to stop underestimating the maneuverability of the doomwheel, it's cost me in previous battles before. The grey seer moves away from the skinks shooting at him by going north and towards the center of the board. Queek's unit just repositions along with the formerly sauru clanrats to see what happens with the carnosaur and censor bearer combat. The plaguemonks on the right flank rally and the clanrats on the left flank continue to march towards the center. The gutter runners charge into the Kroxigar, hoping the +1 combat resolution will help them win combat and run the monsters down before they can support my center line.

Magic: Uneventful magic phase. I manage to dispel warp lightning as well as crack's call and the grey seer fails to cast skitterleap with 1 die.

Shooting: The warp lightning cannon shoots at my spear saurus, knocking off about a rank. The jezzails target my battle standard bearer Kai'Qu and manage to deal 1 wound to him, but one of the jezzails manages to blow himself up in the process. The Doomwheel's zzzap result is strength 8, and the engine of the god's 5+ ward doesn't work at such close range, meaning that the stegadon was promptly destroyed, netting over 500 points so far for the 150 point doomwheel this game. Atehe however survives the carnage and is placed on foot. The plaqueclaw catapult scatters very far when attempting to target some skink cohort, but still manages to hit 2, although neither are wounded. The poisoned wind globadiers and mortar target the spear saurus, but only manage to kill 1.

Combat: The gutter runners quickly regret charging into the kroxigar after they fail their fear test. Hitting on 5's with the Kroxigar hitting on 3's means the kroxigar make mincemeat out of the ratmen, and the few remaining survivors are run down. The plaque censor bearers manage to kill the carnosaur with their multitude of strength 5 attacks, but Kro'qua will not have it and manages to butcher 3 with this 5 attacks and still win combat despite his mount being killed. Kro'Qua may have won the combat, denying the censor bearers of their frenzy, but they manage to hold under the watchful eye of Queek.

Turn 3: Lizardmen

Movement: The kroxigar, fresh from their victory over the gutter runners, declare a charge into the storm vermin's warpfire thrower. The spear saurus once again charge the plague monks on the right flank, hoping to escape shooting and finish them off once and for all. The left flank skinks continue to march towards the center, with the skirmisher units positioning to attack the grey seer and doomwheel. Kai'Qu marches up towards the warp lightning cannon to charge it in the following turn. Atehe gets as far away from the doomweel as possible, marching a full 12 inches towards the left flank.

Magic: Atehe tries to throw all 5 of his magic dice at a chain lightning targeting the doomwheel, but it is dispelled by the grey seer's 4 dispel dice with an exact roll.

Shooting: Shooting is far more effective this round, managing to put both 1 wound on the doomwheel and 2 on the grey seer. The chameleon skinks, having accomplished nothing of note so far in the game, roll amazingly and kill off the poisoned wind globadiers, although the mortar itself passes panic.

Combat: Kro'Qua fails his plague censor test, but manages to save it with his ward save. Without frenzy or the bonus of their flails in the second round of combat, the plague censor bearers now strength 3 attacks bounce uselessly off of Kro'Qua's scales and they are torn limb from limb by the mighty oldblood. They loose their nerve and run for it, managing to escape his wrath. The kroxigar, in a complete reversal of their last combat, totally whiff their attacks against the warpfire thrower, and the few attacks that do manage to wound are saved by the weapon team's 4+ ward save. The spear saurus on the right flank do a bit better, managing to soundly win combat, but the skaven player rolls a 3 for their break test and they hold fast, ready to fight another round of combat. I don't think I mind this, as it will protect them from shooting and I'm sure that I'll beat that unit at some point as their strength 3 attacks aren't inflicting very many casualties on the sauru.


End turn 3: Left Flank End Turn 3: Right Flank



Atehe leaped clear of the toppling stegadon as corrupted lightning coursed through the great beast and its crew. He was sure he had enacted the warding spells just like Tenkitza had taught him, but they failed to offer any protection against the skaven spinning war machine of doom. He had failed. Landing Gracefully on his nimble limbs, he quickly looked up to see Kro'Qua's carnosaur topple and fall into a cloud of green noxious mist, swarmed over by fanatical hooded skaven. Atehe cringed at the shattering sound of the engine of the gods, smashed against the earth as the dying stegadon who carried it finally fell. This couldn't be happening, everything was going so wrong so fast! The skinks around him yelled at him to flee as they let loose volleys of javalins and blowpipe shots at the doomwheel. Without hesitation, he complied, making a run for the woods in hope to gain cover from the skaven war machines.

***
Queek and his elite storm vermin laughed and jeered as the mighty reptilian predator's legs were beaten and clawed until the mighty beast's limbs buckled, sending it down to the smog enveloped ground with a crash. The creature was then swarmed by the censor bearers and the rider on top was covered by both poisonous fumes and the bodies of fanatical ratmen. The forces Queek had purchased from clan Festus appeared to be worth far more than he paid for them, an uncommon occurrence. Just as Queek was barking orders for his elite guard to charge the huge beasts attacking their warpfire thrower, he saw something that made his fur stand on end with excitement.

The Lizard-thing that was riding the great monster burst forth from the poisonous fog, tossing skaven aside as if they were dry leaves and hacking them in half just as easily. The censor bearers knew no fear in their frenzy but Queek knew they were doomed. He had gotten very good at sizing up an opponent's fighting prowess at a glance and could tell that the Oldblood was a far greater fighter than the usually easily dispatched scar-veteran or temple guard.
"Hold hold!" Queek shouted at his guard, who upon seeing the normally intimidating censor bearers being ripped to shreds were becoming uneasy. "The Lizard-thing's head will be my newest trophy."

Queek could hardly contain his anticipation as he rubbed his hands together greedily. He loved little more than humiliating great leaders in glorious 1 on 1 combat. That and getting new trophies. As Kro'Qua finally beat the fanaticism out of the censor bearers and they began to run from his wrath, Queek ordered a slow advance towards his position. After briefly and unsuccessfully attempting to run the censor bearers down, Kro'Qua turned around to see Queek's scarlet clad unit with him at the forefront. Unlike most skaven leaders, this one was purposefully making himself as visible and prominent as possible, a tall trophy rack of severed heads and limbs adorned his back. This puzzled Kro'Qua, for skaven warlords and chieftains commonly lead their units from the rear. Something besides cowardice motivated this Skaven, an eagerness to fight that Kro'Qua had never seen in the race before. He tightly gripped his Piranha-blade and started to walk purposefully towards the red armored storm vermin, Queek's anticipatory smile growing all the larger as he did.


Battle Continued on next post.

[Kayosiv]

Turn 4: Skaven

Movement: Queek's unit charges the now on-foot Kro'Qua, hitting him in the flank. I had considered fleeing with him, but just couldn't give up the chance to cut a special character in half and felt with Kroxigar support I could win the fight. Unfortunately for me, I had grievously underestimated Queek's fighting prowess. The Ratling gun moved into the woods, hoping to get into fire position after spending the entire game in the middle of nowhere and to shoot at Atehe if he entered the woods for cover. The formerly sauru skaven unit charged my kroxigar in the flank, hoping to save the weapon team and run them down through combat resolution. The doomwheel rolled extremely high and plowed right into Kai'Qu my BSB.

Magic: Skitterleap was cast on the grey seer himself, but was dispelled. He managed to cast warp lightning and cracks call on the skink skirmisher unit nearest the woods, but he rolled terribly and only killed 3 skinks with both spells combined. He did however manage to cast Howling warpgale with his 1 remaining dice.

Shooting: The warplightning cannon and jezzail teams took aim at the now very vulnerable Atehe. The warp lightning cannon drastically overshot with a bounce of 10, missing him entirely. The jezzail team fared much better, scoring 3 hits and wounding twice. Atehe was saved by his 1-use ward save and took 1 wound. The plagueclaw catapault misfired and exploded and the plague mortar had nothing to fire at that wasn't in combat and so moved close towards the center of the board. The doomwheel's zzap only rolled strength 4 and Kai'Qu's 1+ armor save deflected it without a problem.

Combat: The Kroxigar managed to kill the warpfire thrower and enough clanrats (who did no damage on the charge) to win combat by 1 point, and even with Queek's leadership they failed their break test and fled. Unfortunately the Kroxigar ALSO failed their restraint of pursuit despite Kro'Qua's leadership. This was enormous because it meant I wouldn't get flank charge support from the kroxigar if Kro'Qua managed to hold out for a turn like I was hoping. On the plus side I ran the clanrats down, but they were never going to rally anyway. The Sauru on the right flank again managed to beat the plaguemonks, this time killing just enough models to deny them steadfast despite the sauru losing so many casualties to shooting. They once again broke, but I opted not to peruse, knowing that if I did that unit would be too far on the right flank to accomplish anything later in the game and I was counting on them for late game muscle in turn 6. They were the only thing I had left on the board that stood a chance versus Queek's elite storm vermin. The doomwheel rolled a 6 for it's impact hits, and despite making 4 out of 5 saves against the strength 6 attacks, the already wounded Kai'Qu was taken out of the game, netting yet hundred points more for the doomwheel. In the storm vermin combat...

Queek's red attired Storm Vermin elite surrounded Kro'Qua, practicing a trained ritual that they had enacted many times before. They did not attack, but instead formed a large circle with their weapons pointed towards the center from all angles, creating an arena that he could not escape. Queek himself pushed out of the mob and into the edge of the circle, pointing towards Kro'Qua with a terrible spiked hand-axe.
"Challenge-challenge lizard-thing!" Queek shouted with gleeful anticipation. He had never known a Sauru to refuse to meet his blade in combat and didn't expect this to be the first.

Kro'Qua as usual wasted no words, leaping at Queek and slashing a devastating arc that came inches from decapitating several startled storm vermin just behind the Warlord. Queek however agilely rolled under the attack and began his attack in earnest. Kro'Qua found it difficult to defend against the dual wielding windmill style of the crimson skaven, who was much faster and more skilled than any he had fought before. Queek was having similar problems, having fought many Sauru champions before, he was used to them being tremendously strong, but slow and cumbersome. While he expected the Oldblood to be a good fighter, he surpassed his earlier estimates, being at least as good as the many contracted assassins that had tried to take his life in the past, maybe better.

Queek tried attacking his opponent's eyes, his neck, his groin, any and every weak spot he could think of on such an impenetrable adversary, but Kro'Qua parried or deflected all major attacks. He found that the Oldblood smartly defended all would-be deathblows or attacks that would cripple him, and that gave the headtaker an idea. Redoubling his efforts, Queek went for quick but weaker strikes, tearing at the oldblood's heavily armored arms, legs, and head. His opponent might be too skilled to defeat with 1 fatal strike, but Queek was determined to wear his opponent down with a series of smaller attacks that were too fast to stop.

Queek's plan was working and his confidence grew, growing emboldened by the cheers of his fellows. Kro'Qua had several small gashes and cuts on his body, his dark blood trickling down his scales and into the ground at their feet. Queek probably could have continued to dodge Kro'Qua and defeated him in a battle of endurance, but his ego demanded that he maintain his onslaught, and during his continued attack he was caught in the chest by Kro'Qua's massive blade. The serrated edge of the blade cut deep, but it was not just the flesh tearing but the sheer force of the blow that was so devastating. Queek was thrown off of his feet and thrown into the edge of the circle by the blunt force of the swing, his armor bent inwards and torn by the cutting edge of the Obstinite weapon.

Queek's eyes teared with pain as he felt the fur on his chest go damp with his own blood. All eyes of his storm vermin were focused on him and he willed his body to get up and move. It was immediately apparent to Queek that his armor had saved his life, but was now useless. The jagged edges of his opponent's blade had made it so the armor would cut him while moving if he continued to wear it. Using the leverage of his weapons as a fulcrum point, he pried his damaged and torn armor apart so that it fell from his body, hitting the ground with a metallic clink.
"Weak Lizard-thing, you cannot defeat-kill Queek so easily!"

Kro'Qua just stared contemptibly at the head-taker, offering no response to his taunts. This lit a fire in Queek's eyes, as he hated nothing more than being ignored. Though the pain was tremendous, Queek refused to beaten and launched himself once again at the Oldblood. Their weapons met again at the center of the circle and its cheering intensified to match the intensity of the battle that it contained. It was a highly unusual occurrence that Queek's guard was treated to such a spectacle. Queek usually defeated most opponents before they could even swing their weapons.


Queek immediately challenges and manages to deal 3 wounds to Kro'Qua, but I make 2 of my 3 ward saves. Kro'Qua hits 3 times, but only wounds once. Queek makes no saves and the Piranha blade multiplies the 1 wound into 2. I had hoped to score a far greater victory on Queek, but I didn't realize he was so monstrous in combat. With 6 attacks that hit on 2's and ignore armor, he is a very dangerous opponent. Although Kro'Qua loses combat by 5, he still manages to hold. I attempt to combat reform so I'm not being flanked by Queek's unit, but fail. I'm going to have to do a lot better in the next round of combat. Even if I manage to kill Queek, the odds that his unit's static combat resolution will defeat Kro'Qua are extremely high.

Turn 4: Lizardmen

Movement: The Kroxigar spun around to face the storm vermin unit. Most of my skinks moved towards the doomwheel, hoping to shoot it down in later turns. The Sauru charged the plague mortar, which fled but was still run down after a miserable roll. Atehe moved into the woods and close enough to cast spells at Kro'Qua. The 2 remaining skink skirmishers on the left flank charged the plague censor bearers and actually managed to make them flee off the table. This was a good turn so far.

Magic: And it kept getting better. I rolled a mighty 10 on my power dice and Atehe powered up ready cast some magic. I had to be cautious with dice per spell because he was sitting on 1 wound with no ward save, but I still managed to have a pretty meaningful magic phase. The first thing I cast was a curse of the midnight wind on Queek's storm vermin unit, which was dispelled using 3 of my opponents 5 dice. I next cast chain lightning at the Doomwheel, managing to deal 2 wounds to it. The chainlightning then jumped to the warp lightning cannon but it totally failed to wound (I rolled like three 1's and a 2). Lastly, Atehe cast Harmonic Convergence on Kro'Qua with 3 dice, which my opponent tried to dispel with his 2 but rolled just short.

Shooting: And I had though the movement/magic phases went well, this is when the game really turned around. Keep in mind that Howling warpgale was giving me a -1 to shoot with all my attacks. First, with 7 shots I manage to roll three 6's and kill the Grey Seer with my skink skirmisher unit. Second, the chameleon skinks manage to roll enough 6's to do serious damage to the warp-lightning cannon. Finally, my center unit of skink skirmishers manages to deal 1 wound to the doomwheel, causing it at the end of the phase to lose control and scatter DIRECTLY into the already heavily wounded warp-lightning cannon, killing it with impact hits, HA!

Combat: Kro'Qua takes another wound from Queek, but with the help of Harmonic Convergence manages to really cut into the Skaven Warlord, getting 3 wounds total, multiplying into 6 and killing him with a massive overkill bonus. Kro'Qua wins the combat and is able to reform and face Queek's elite guard, who pass their steadfast and hold.

Turn 5: Skaven

Movement: The clanrat unit on the left flank that's been wandering nowhere for the entirety of the game turns to face Atehe and charge him on turn 6, although he'll be long gone by then. The Doomwheel rolls high enough to charge the chameleon skinks who aren't allowed a charge reaction because of it's random movement. My gamble pays off and the plague monks way over on the right flank fail their rally test and flee off the board.

Magic: With no wizards left, the phase ends.

Shooting: Unable to see Atahe behind the wooded hill, the jezzails take aim at the Kroxigar and manage to deal 2 wounds, killing one of the Kroxigar. The Ratling gun attempts to fire even more shots at the Kroxigar but gets a bit too greedy with it's dice rolling and ends up exploding due to misfire. The doomwheel opts not to fire the zzzap and succeeds in it's leadership check.

Queek's relentless attacks continued to take their toll on the oldblood and Kro'Qua could feel his injuries impeding his ability to fight and sap his strength. Queek's own chest wound had slowed the ratman down, but made him much more cautious and he successfully stayed out of the reach of Kro'Quas jagged sword. As Queek pressed his advantage and went for the kill, Kro'Qua felt the energizing warmth of Atehe's magic flow through his limbs. With a quick lash of Kro'Qua's tail, Queek went down, collar bone shattered and his right arm hanging uselessly at his side, twisted at an impossible angle. A wide eyed Queek clutched desperately at his mangled limb and cried out in agony. The Storm vermin went silent. Never before have they seen the champion of Clan Moors defeated in single combat.

What happened next, greatly confused Kro'Qua. Since time immemorial, every time he defeated a skaven warlord in combat, his fellow skaven had descended upon their former leader and devoured him, a rival warlord finished him off to garner his own position, or the ratmen simply ran and left the defeated warlord to his fate. But not this time. Queek's guard dragged him into their ranks protectively and began to close the circle around the Oldblood, vengeance in their eyes.
"Kills-it Kills-it Kills-it Kills-it!" Queek screeched in a mad rage full of pain and resentment.

Kro'Qua tried to fight off the swarm of skaven, but he was already severely injured, and each one he cut down was replaced by another who stepped up to battle him. He knew the fight was one that in his current state he could not win, and with a last burst of strength plowed through the enclosed circle and made a break for the woods. But his injuries made him too slow. A great halberd strike caught him in the leg, and Kro'Qua fell, swarmed over by the crimson guard of Queek. They slashed and cut at his body until he moved no more.

Combat: The doom wheel totally obliterates the chameleon skinks with impact hits as expected, but luckily doesn't roll an over-run high enough to get out of line of sight of the Saurus block. Kro'Qua's luck however, runs out. Rolling poorly and losing combat by 2, he breaks from combat and rolls a measly 2 for his flee roll, and is promptly run down by Queek's elite guard.

Turn 5: Lizardmen

Movement: The saurus charge into the doomwheel. The kroxigar decide to just move up past the Storm-vermin and towards the jezzails. Without Kro'Qua to help deal damage and only 2 Kroxigar left, there's no way I'm beating a elite skaven unit so I opt not to charge and just save the points, hoping to snag the jezzails on turn 6. Atehe passes his marchblock test and gets out of line of sight of the clanrats on the left flank so nobody can charge him on turn 6. My 2 skink skirmishers that ran down the censor bearers move into shooting range of the jezzail team.

Magic: Without having any combats in range to buff or curse, Atehe launches a chain lightning at the Jezzail team, killing 2 and causing a panic test which they pass.

Shooting: My skinks on the right flank have nothing to shoot at. The 2 skinks in the skirmisher unit on the left flank throw some javelins at the jezzails but are ineffective.

Combat: The Saurus put one more wound on the doomwheel and beat it in combat by 1 point, but it manages to hold.

At this point, my opponent and I are out of time for our game and have to pack up. I'm pretty sure I could have squeaked out a victory here if we had gone to turn 6, but as it was the points added up to a draw in my favor. If my kroxigar could weather another round of shooting the jezzail team would have been mine, and while I was down to very few Sauru left, I think they could have put the last wound on the doomwheel.

Post Game Thoughts:
It feels good to finally finish the report for this game. Overall, it was a very equal game that went my way in turn 4 with that amazing magic and shooting phase. I need to really respect the Doomwheel's ability to destroy big monsters. Speaking of, I don't feel my Carnosaur is worth taking in games under 3000 points. I'm still undecided on a Slann, but I know now that I'd rather have another 180 points worth of troops and just put my Oldblood on a cold one, probably not taking the piranha blade again. It's great for monster killing, but I really should just kill monsters with skink shooting anyway.

[Kayosiv]

Souls Reclaimed

"Oh no... no no no!" Atehe stammered as he ran as fast as he could towards the unmoving body of Kro'Qua. The skaven had been routed, but at what cost? Most of the saurus warriors were dead or injured, the stegadons were killed... and the engine of the gods lay shattered, broken into ruble upon the earth. Atehe shuddered at the thought of such a priceless artifact being destroyed while under his care. How could he have failed so completely? Sotarkesh was wrong to entrust him with something so important.

As Atehe skidded to a stop in front of Kro'Qua, the skink priest was at least partially relieved; Kro'Qua lived. His wounds looked grievous however, and each breath was labored and full of struggle. Atehe's meager healing spells would be useless on such injuries, and he had no idea how to even begin bandaging the oldblood, whose entire body seemed ripped and torn. Kro'Qua roused at Atehe's presence and seemed to drift back into consciousness, grunting weakly as he slowly became aware of all the painful sensations of each cut and gash he had suffered.

Kro'Qua's one uninjured eye opened and stared pleadingly at Atehe.
"Please, help me stand."

Atehe was suddenly overcome with emotion. He had always considered Kro'Qua a living embodiment of war; more of an untouchable force of nature than a mere mortal of flesh and blood like himself. But now he lay here broken, begging for his help. "Of course Kro'Qua" Atehe said with an endearing smile, "you can always count on me."
"I know."

Unfortunately, Atehe's new-found comradely with Kro'Qua made him no stronger, or Kro'Qua any less heavy. After much struggle, Kro'Qua's blood-slicked form rose, leaning heavily on Atehe's donated staff. And Kro'Qua began to limp onwards; though Atehe knew not where, he felt that he should follow. They did not have far to go. Just outside the outskirts of the battlefield they arrived at a crudely camouflaged skaven burrow hole, difficult to see from a distance but obvious as they approached it. How Kro'Qua knew of this underground entrance or what they were doing here Atehe did not know, but he was sure that when the remaining skaven forces had retreated, they had not gone in this direction. Before he could further ponder the mystery, Kro'Qua went inside.

Atehe easily caught up with the hobbling Kro'Qua, who marched on into the increasingly dark tunnel. When Atehe attempted to ask where they were going he was harshly shushed by stern glare from Kro'Qua's one good eye. And so they walked in silence down the corridor. The tunnel widened the deeper they delved and it branched off into several bisecting corridors but Kro'Qua seemed to know the right way. When the light was so dim Atehe started to trip over his own feet, he saw a feint and distant light in the black gloom that grew in size as they approached it. At first he was grateful for the illumination it provided, but the relief quickly turned to dread. The light was an unnatural green hue that radiated magic, dark magic.

It was then that Atehe noticed a bizarre humming. It was a kind of crackling noise somewhat akin to the reverberating sound magical energy made as it coursed through his body upon the completion of a spell, but higher pitched. As they continued to advance down the tunnel the green luminescence bathed the walls the noise grew ever louder, until it begin to hurt Atehe's ears and he had to hold a hand over his eyes to protect them from the light. At last Kro'Qua and his tiny companion reached the entrance to an open but cluttered room, filled with evil things the likes of which Atehe had never even imagined.

Inside the carved out area was all manners of machinery, much of it possessing an arcane design or a sinister blade, sometimes both. The source of the now almost blinding light was a large orb glowing like a green sun in the center of the room. It was hooked up to various wires, pipes, and cables, which in turn were connected to several pieces of weaponry scattered in a pile next to it. Just past the orb was a single skaven, utterly absorbed in his work and unaware of the presence of intruders in his workshop. His attire was strange and he had several tools and knickknacks attached to his robes and what appeared to be a prosthetic chain tail made of interlocking metal joints where his organic tail should be.

Atehe's eyes strained against the blinding light of the green orb to see what the Warlock Engineer was working on, and he wished he hadn't. Set upon a dais was the partially flayed body of a skink. The corpse had several embedded parts and tubes within the open body cavity that had been crudely surgically implanted. The engineer finished connecting some mechanical contraption together and used the long pronged metal shaft on the end of it to prod the skink, which caused its body to twitch and convulse. The ratman watched utterly fascinated behind protective shaded eyepieces, jotting down notes in a weathered book. Realization dawned on Atehe, as to his horror he recognized the victim of the Warlock Engineer's experiments. It was the fallen and partially decayed body of Huini'Zec.

Kro'Qua began to stalk purposefully but silently towards the glowing green orb as Atehe watched with growing anticipation. As Kro'Qua neared the arcane power-source, the skaven's ears perked up. Atehe held his breath as the ratman lifted his nose into the air and gave two quick sniffs. The aroma of Kro'Qua's blood had been quite potent outside, but here in this chamber it was being overpowered by the smell of oil and fumes. Still, Atehe knew how keen the senses of the skaven were, and his heart froze as the owner of this workshop paused with his nose held high in the air. Atehe let out a silent whoosh of air as the warlock engineer shook his head dismissively and began to once again scribble in his notebook.

Kro'Qua took the few remaining steps forward and lifted Atehe's staff high into the air above the green glowing orb. With his injuries being as severe as they were, even such a simple act was excruciatingly painful, and as Kro'Qua winced he let out a barely audible breath through gritted teeth. The skaven instantly spun around in alarm.
"What are yo..." was all he could stammer out before Kro'Qua brought Atehe's staff down on the orb, shattering it, and everything went white.

Atehe felt his back erupt in pain as he thudded against the earthen wall of the workshop. His vision was swimming and came back in splotches. At first he was worried that he had gone blind, but quickly realized that without the glow of the orb to light the room, it was nearly pitch black. The only light source was the sparking remains of the once brilliant green orb, as well as a few small fires that had sprung up around the orb's detonation point. As his vision returned, Atehe scanned the room for Kro'Qua and began to become progressively panicked as he was unable to find him. Atehe began to wonder if perhaps the blast had disintegrated him. There was also no sign of the workshop's owner; a fact that greatly worried Atehe, for he knew it was dangerous to assume that he had simply fled, life was never that easy.

With thoughts of the hidden ratman residing in every shadow and corner, Atehe's heart leaped in his throat as a loud crash resonated throughout the room. Much to his relief, the racket was caused by Kro'Qua unceremoniously pushing several heavy metal contraptions off of himself. Atehe headed over as Kro'Qua dug himself loose and helped as best he could to free the Oldblood. As the last of the scrap and junk was removed from Kro'Qua's legs, he swiftly shoved Atehe away from him. The darkness lit up as warp-lightning coursed through Kro'Qua, and Atehe knew he only had a few seconds to save his comrade's life. Enacting complicated counter-spells as best he could under the circumstances, Atehe dissipated the flow of lightning and Kro'Qua collapsed in a smoking heap. The Warplock engineer, previously hiding in the shadows, shook his warplock condenser violently in an attempt to re-energize it. Realization dawned on his face; the machine was still working, Atehe had just shut down the winds of magic that powered it.

"So-so... you are a wizard lizard-thing" said the skaven, approaching menacingly. "No matter, you die like all the rest that defy the great Link Razortail."

With his intent proclaimed, Link Razortail dropped his now useless warp lightning condenser and pulled out a cruel looking bladed device. Flipping a switch, his backpack whirred and buzzed and the blade came to life, spinning and slashing in a manner that meant certain death to any that were caught in it's mechanisms. Atehe stared into this blender on a stick with terror, fervently going over his possible options of escape. One look at the still breathing but unconscious Kro'Qua made his options very limited, but quite clear. Escape was not a choice, he had to fight.

Figuring that lightning attacks wouldn't be effective against the skaven's equipment, Atehe cast the only other offensive spell he knew, channeling the winds of Azyr into a hurricane flurry targeted at his opponent. Realizing his adversary was using a magical assault, the skaven techno-sorcerer began to twist several knobs on his bladed arcane contraption. His attempts at dispelling the spell proved insufficient however and Link was scantly able to turn off his things-killer contraption before he was lifted off of his feet by the magical wind and blown end over end until he collided against the burrow's wall. He let out an anguished scream a moment later as his deadly weapon then collided with its creator in an ironic example of karma.

Loud pings and clinks resonated throughout the room as pieces of rocks and scrap metal fell from the air. Atehe put down his hands, breathing heavily. It was much harder for him to channel magic without the aid of his staff and the execution of a single spell had wiped him out. He quickly ran over to a stirring Kro'Qua, who despite a large charred welt on his chest, seemed no more damaged than he already was. Realizing he wouldn't be able to move Kro'Qua until he was fully conscious even if he wanted to, Atehe scanned the gloom hoping to locate his staff, silently hoping that it hadn't been destroyed in the explosion. While searching the room, he saw something that made his heart freeze. Link's backpack and cloak were still pinned against the wall by his things-killer device... but his body was gone. Terrified, Atehe slowly reached for his sacrificial dagger and drew it. The slow grinding noise the blade made against its sheath was deafening; the room had become deathly quiet.

Atehe thought he heard a noise and so quickly turned to swipe the air behind him, but nothing was there. His nerves getting the better of him, Atehe began to back against the wall to cut off his constant uneasy feeling that something terrible was sneaking up behind him. Unfortunately, his attempts to look in every direction at once failed to notice what was on the ground, and he tripped and stumbled over some wreckage on the floor. Atehe looked up just in time to see Link Razortail pounce.

The skink priest gasped for breath as Link's jagged fingernails cut into his throat in a furious attempt to throttle him.
"Everything-everything! You've ruined everything!" Link screamed at the target of his wrath. Fresh blood from his wounds dripped onto Atehe, who lay trapped underneath him, struggling for air.

Atehe's hands frantically searched the cluttered ground for his lost dagger, something, anything he could use. He unfortunately found the sharp end of his dagger first, slicing his hand, but he didn't care. Link Razortail's squeal pierced the room as Atehe plunged it into his side. The Ratman released his grip and shrank away, dagger still protruding from his ribs. Atehe coughed violently and wheezed deep breaths of air into his starved lungs. With a wail, Link removed the dagger from his abdomen, glaring murderously at the skink who was responsible for it being there. Holding his bleeding side with his free hand and raising the skink priest's own dagger dangerously, he began to stalk the now defenseless Atehe. His murderous glare quickly darted to beside the skink priest as the newly conscious Kro'Qua stood up to his full height, nearly touching the ceiling of the workshop.

The skaven's murderous rage fled his body as he locked eyes with the oldblood's own steely glare. Link slowly lifted his free hand to his face and seemed to notice only now how badly he was bleeding. After a few seconds of hesitation, Kro'Qua took a single step forward and the skaven's courage faltered. Dropping his stolen dagger, he scurried off into the darkness down one of the many corridors leaving the workshop. That one step however was all Kro'Qua seemed capable of and he stumbled, nearly falling. Atehe scoured the wreckage for his staff and found it... sort of. Part of the jeweled headpiece had been destroyed, but the shaft was intact at least. He offered it to Kro'Qua, but the Saurus pushed it away.

After a few heavy and struggled breaths, Kro'Qua rose with a wince and began to walk to the dais that Huini'Zec's corpse was sprawled on. Removing the equipment attached to the cadaver, Kro'Qua hefted it over his shoulder and began to limp out of the workshop past a slack jawed Atehe and back the way they had come. Collecting himself, Atehe scampered after him. On the way back to the surface, Atehe noticed Kro'Qua was leaning more and more, until he eventually had to walk with most of his weight supported by his arm on the tunnel wall. It occurred to Atehe that if Kro'Qua collapsed, he would have no idea how to get back to the surface. Fortunately Kro'Qua was able to keep his crawling pace and they were eventually able to find their way out of the catacombs and back into the sunlight. By the time that they reached the surface however, Atehe noticed Kro'Qua was barely able to lift his own feet enough to shuffle along. Without the support of the cavern's walls, Kro'Qua didn't get far until he could walk no more, and was forced to place Huini'Zec's corpse down on the jungle grass in front of him.

Atehe jumped back as a dimensional rift opened a few hundred feet in front of them. With the kind of day he'd been having, he half expected demons to pour out of it. Much to his relief though, a regiment of Saurus warriors walked out of it, the slann Sotarkesh hovering just above them. Atehe noticed a perfectly healthy Kai'Qu at their head, despite him falling in battle only a few hours before. Sotarkesh floated over to them, a look of concern on his face.
"Have you succeeded?" the slann asked directly into their minds via the divine communication as Atehe bowed low before his master. He was apprehensive about his master being angry with him over the loss of the Engine of the Gods, but Sotarkesh didn't seem concerned with it for the time being.

Kro'Qua tried to rise, but was unable. "Yes."

"Excellent" the slann thought into their minds. Sotarkesh raised his long arms and arched his multi-jointed fingers. At first Atehe couldn't perceive what he was doing, but after a moment the corpse of Huini'Zec began to dissolve and fade away. As it did, vegetation and multicolored flowers rose in its place.
"It is done" the Slann said, turning his attention to the kneeling Oldblood, who was so wobbly it looked like he could collapse at any moment.
"And you Kro'Qua, you are very weary. Is your fight over? Do you wish to leave this world?"

An alarmed Atehe's attention darted to Kro'Qua, who could barely keep his eyes open. He breathed a difficult breath that was full of pain. He looked down at the newly sprung up vegetation where the body of Huini'Zec had been moments before. It looked so very natural, so peaceful. A small breeze whooshed by and rustled the plants.

"No." With that the Oldblood collapsed.

"Very well" Sotarkesh said, "attend to him." A score of saurus lifted Kro'Qua's limp body and began to carry him back towards the portal from which they came.
"Come" the slann said, beckoning Atehe. "We have much to discuss."

The skink priest walked off with his master, describing the battle and their ensuing adventures. He finished just before they reached the portal back to their home.

"It is just as I feared" Sotarkesh said. He turned to Kai'Qu, who had been standing silently at his side. "Rally the host, we must head south.
"Yes Master" Kai'Qu said with conviction, before bowing low and entering the portal.

Atehe was puzzled. "South, master?"
"Yes" the slann responded. "To the temple of Dusk. We have delayed for far too long already, but we still have time to prevent catastrophe."
Without further explanation Sotarkesh entered the portal back to Kotak-Hai and Atehe quickly ran after him before the portal closed.

A few minutes after the portal vanished, a solitary figure stalked out of the jungle. He had a pronounced limp, and still damp bloody bandages were wrapped around his side. The wounded skaven glared spitefully at the plants and flowers that were once the body of Huini'Zec.
"Ruin me lizard-thing... I ruin you instead!"
The skaven turned around sharply, and his metallic tail sliced cleanly through newly sprung up plants. With his vengeance declared, Link Razortail began to limp back into the jungle to plot his revenge.

[Kayosiv]

Battle 6 complete. It only took me one and a half years...

There is also a huge fluff update on Post #32 that you should check out if you care about the story. There is more fluff to be written which will be located on post 68, but I've got to get going to sleep at the moment and will hopefully complete it over the next few days.

[Gaargod]

Only just found this thread, but it's excellent. Very much enjoying the style of writing.

A few army comments - if you were to use the oldblood on carnosaur again, be aware that the bugger gets a 3+ armour save just for turning up. 4+ scaly skin, and you get +1 for being mounted these days, so light armour+shield is sufficient (or just heavy armour, if you're going for that). Might of course be worth taking that shield, if his mount gets killed from under him...

Also for the vampire lord - getting a decent lord out of 625 on a zombie dragon is... interesting. Especially if you want him to be balanced fighty and magicky. About the best I could come up with is the following:
Vampire Lord
Level 3
Biting Blade (not really necessary, but 10pts spare at the end, and it stops ethereal things being irritating)
Nightshroud (works on the zombie dragon too, so really should help keep it alive)
Quickblood (rererolls!)
Zombie Dragon
Heavy Armour + Shield
624pts.

Total armour save of 2+, combined with nightshroud, means he should live for a while at least. He's not massively hitty, but 5 attacks hitting on 3 rerollable (often) at S5 armour piercing means he's respectable, and lv3 was the best I could do if you wanted any protection at all. If you go down to lv2, it's a lot easier - can get the Talisman of Endurance too, and upgrade Biting Blade to Sword of Striking if you wished. Red Fury of course is very desirable, but at 50pts it's just not tenable if you want any magic at all.

[MOMUS]

Nice quality writing Kayosiv, the story is really intriguing. I shall go back and read it from the start.

[Kayosiv]

Only just found this thread, but it's excellent. Very much enjoying the style of writing.

Oh hey thank you. Compliments go very far in motivating this thread's continuation.

A few army comments - if you were to use the oldblood on carnosaur again...

I couldn't agree more. This was a very experimental build in one of my earlier 8th edition games. I just wasn't prepared for how much damage the Carnosaur was going to take due to striking in initiative order, 2nd rank attacks, and step up. If you notice, the carnosaur got off all the charges in the game. Under 7th edition rules, I would have killed the Hellpit before it got to strike, killed enough plague censor bearers so they couldn't strike, and likely ran them down with the extra movement granted by the carnosaur. I was still building my list with that mindset because I was just unused to 8th edition mentality at the time.

Also for the vampire lord - getting a decent lord out of 625 on a zombie dragon is... interesting.

... Red Fury of course is very desirable, but at 50pts it's just not tenable if you want any magic at all.

Totally, it's a squeeze. You've got a pretty good build set up too, although I'd probably just give him a lance for 10 points instead of armor piercing, but either way it is a nice balance of magic/fighty. I'm leaning towards giving him red fury, which as you've correctly surmised, makes giving him level 2+ pretty much impossible. I haven't had a chance to play with the list yet so I want to try a lot of different builds for him. Hopefully I get can get something that works.

The Nightshroud is an unquestionably awesome item, but I just don't feel it works on a dragon. You need a ward save to protect you from cannons, strength 6 magic missiles, and miscasts results. Nightshroud does a great job turning cavalry and great weapon wielding troops into chumps, but I think it's more appropriate for a lord with a Look-out-sir roll.

Nice quality writing Kayosiv, the story is really intriguing. I shall go back and read it from the start.

Fantastic and glad to hear it entertained you. Please let me know if any way I could make the story better or more clearly/correctly written and enjoy the reports and their accompanying fluff. Congratulations on you recent win against Vampire Counts.

I have the next bit of fluff for the story in my head but school has been absolutely kicking my flank lately and I have had no free time whatsoever. Hopefully I can get it on here in the next couple of weeks.

[Kayosiv]

Well, alrighty; thread resurrection time. Summer is here and I'm a college graduate, yay me. I've so far gotten 2 games of Warhammer in, both against my friend's beastmen, and both victories in fact, which certainly is motivating. I played vampire counts first (because I was just dying to try out the new book) and then lizardmen. I used a Slann for the first time ever... he did well but not exceptional. I think I'll need to try different magic lores as I used heavens simply because I was familiar with it.

Still building vampire counts, and using a lot of proxies (the goblins technically have skeletons "in" them, right?).

Still need to paint more stuff.

Having fun with both lists, which I'll post later. The lizardmen is slightly modiefied, but having never really played Vampire Counts in 8th edition the list was totally new to me. I felt very lost with it and have a lot I need to do to improve.

My opponent in both games used the same beastman list, which consisted of
a horde of 60 gor with a wargor bsb with the +1 strength banner,
a level 4 wizard with beasts, a level 2 wizard with beats,
a gorbull in a unit of skirmishing ungor.
a doombull, a unit of 6 minotar
a cygor.
Some units of 5 dogs.

Summary of Game 1:

Vampire Counts vs beastmen. I managed to kill his doombull+minotaur unit with a single spirit host base. It was awesome. The spirit host then tied up the cygor the entire rest of the game. I used curse of years on his horde of gor until it was more manageable and dual charged it with my dragon and graveguard, netting me a decisive victory.

Summary of game 2:

Lizardmen vs beastmen. His unit of minotaurs charged one of my units of 30 saurus, nearly wiping it past steadfast, but they held with the help of my BSB. On my turn I charged in both flanks with a ancient stegadon and my Scar Veteran BSB. The unit broke and was run down. I used skinks to lead the gor herd around until I was ready to charge it in the front with saurus, the side with a stegadon, and the back with a salamander. He was just a few guys down from steadfast and his unit broke and ran. His gorbull was lead around all game by my chameleon skinks and did nothing of significance. His cygor dropped some rocks on his own head twice, then failed a dangerous terrain test, losing 2 wounds. After nearly killing himself, he was fried by my Slann's Lightning bolt. At the end of the game, I had lost most of my skinks, but my opponent had no army left.

The reason I didn't take photos of those game or bother to keep notes was because we were just playing on the floor. It was a very "this book is a hill" situation. Hopefully I'll be able to get in another game soon on an actual gaming table.

EDIT: Gotten in 2 games which I plan writing reports on, one with Vampires and one with Lizardmen. Knowing my usual progress with this thread, that means the reports will be done in a year or so... Although I'll still try to get them done faster. We'll see what develops.

[Kayosiv]

BATTLE 7: The Temple of Dusk
Scenario: Dawn Attack

"Hmmm, interesting" said Kircheck, "I didn't think the temple would be on an island, let alone one populated by elves."
"I think populated is too strong a word brother" said Kayosiv, gesturing towards the pillars of smoke billowing out of the elven structures. Even in the distance across the water it was apparent that the elven settlement was in ruins. "It seems Lord Svey's force wasn't the only chaos regiment here. I can see movement on the island, and there are no elves there left alive."
"Well lets not keep them waiting" Kircheck said eagerly. "Come, if we march our forces through the water, we'll be undetectable and be ready to strike before daybreak!"
"Hmmm..." Kayosiv pondered for a moment, "that means we'll have to leave the black coach here. Lady Cheree, come here."
Lady Cheree materialized into existence next to the vampiric siblings. "Oh, yes my lord?"
"Watch over Kanzul and Alistair's remains until I return."
"Buuuuut my lord, I wish to accompany you!"
"NO!" Kayosiv sternly barked out. "You will keep the black coach safe."
Looking very pouty, lady Cheree grumbled in resigned agreement, "As you wish," before fading away with a HUMPH!

"She'll get over it" Kircheck said. "I'll get our troops moving." And with that Kircheck rode down to get their forces prepared for a long underwater march.
"You" kayosiv said, pointing at a startled Freysson, who had been trying to be as unnoticeable as possible. "Your aid was most useful, as as per our agreement, you are free to go."
His bargain fulfilled, the Norseman grunted in approval and began to stalk back into the jungle, though Kayosiv knew or cared not where. With that Kayosiv floated over to the black coach, for their was one last detail he had to take care of.
"Studge!" Kayosiv bellowed at the raggedly cloaked figure in the coach, "Are they ready?"
The necromancer, always a bit unnerved by his master speaking directly to him, answered meekly. "Oh, oh yes master, just like you instructed."
"Excellent" Kayosiv said with a wicked smile. As if on cue, the large coffins had their heavy stone lids banged and scratched on from the inside. "And they seem eager."
"Are you sure they are... controllable master?" mumbled Studge.
Kayosiv looked at his necromantic apprentice with annoyance, insulted at the question. "You'd better hope so Studge, because if you can't keep them line, there will be hell to pay."
The necromancer gulped loudly. "Yes master."

With everything in order, the undead host began its long march across the bay towards the southern island that housed the Temple of Dusk. Unfortunately, the currents proved to be far stronger than anticipated and the necromantic legions were pulled apart and off their feet beneath the waves. The force managed to cross the water, but was in disarray when it finally bubbled back up to the surface. Kayosiv was supremely annoyed at the long delays, but his expression soon changed to one of shock. A host of chaos warriors was set before them, fully aware of their arrival and ready to fight.

"How can it be...?" Kayosiv angrily mused out loud. "Studge!" he screamed.
"Yes maste..."
"Release the Vargheists! Get the skeletons into position... where the devil is Kircheck!?"
"I don't know master, I..."
"Never mind, prepare the battle line you fool, lest we all be destroyed."

Studge quickly complied and scurried off to his duties. A deep frown set into Kayosiv's face. A set up, how could they have known? The chaos forces began to march towards his shoddy and ill-positioned battle line.
"The fools think they could catch me by surprise" he thought. "They're in for the surprise of their soon to be ended lives."

The two forces advanced towards one another just as Daybreak crested the waves.


My List: Vampire Counts

Lord: 621
Vampire Lord, Army General: Kayosiv Level 1, Heavy Armor
Vampiric Powers: Quickblood (always strike first) Red Fury (each initial wound in combat grants an additional attack)
Magic Items: 4+ ward, Enchanted Shield (+2 armor), Sword of Might (+1 strength)
Mount: ZOMBIE DRAGON, Rupert
Spells (1): Hellish Vigor.

Heroes: 275
Necromancer: Level 2.
Magic Items: The Cursed Book (35)
Spells (2): Invocation of Nehek, Curse of Years.

Necromancer:
Magic Items: dispel scroll
Spells (2): Invocation of Nehek, Vanhel's dance macabe.

Core: (625 min) 625
40 Skeletons: with full command and the Screaming Banner
5 Dire Wolves: with Doom Wolf
5 Dire Wolves:with Doom Wolf
20 zombies: with musician and standard bearer
20 Ghouls:

Special: 984
30 Grave Guard: with great weapons, full command, and banner of the barrows.
11 Black Knights: with Lances, Barding, and full command.
3 Vargheists:
1 Spirit Host
1 Spirit Host

His List: Warriors of Chaos

Lords: 370
GENERAL: Sorcerer Lord: Level 4 wizard,
Mark of Tzeentch, Disk of Tzeentch, Talisman of Preservation, Spell Familiar

Heroes (625 max):300

Exalted Hero: Mark of Tzeentch, Chaos Steed, Halberd, Dragon Helm, Talisman of Endurance

Chaos Sorcerer: Infernal Puppet, Lore of Fire

Core:719 w/ dogs
50x Marauders of Chaos: Standard Bearer, Great Weapons, Mark of Khorne
22x Chaos Warriors: Standard Bearer, Champion, Halberds, Mark of Khorne
5x Chaos Hounds

Special:651
14x Chosen: Standard Bearer, Champion, Shields, Favor of the Gods, Wailing Banner, Mark of Tzeentch. +1 Toughness.
5x Chaos Knights: Standard Bearer, Champion, Banner of eternal Flame, Mark of Tzeentch

Rare:465
Hellcannon
Warshrine
Warshrine

Deployment: I really felt like the scenario screwed me over pretty bad on deployment. My general was stuck on the right side of the board while most of my army was in the center or on the left. The good news was that my vargheists were on the left and so was his hellcannon, so hopefully I could silence it fairly early in the game, or die trying. My opponent also could not place both of his warshrines in range of his chosen, so his auto 4+ ward save wasn't to be expected and he actually had to get lucky to get it. I don't know what the heck I'm going to do on the left side of the board, but the right side of the board seems reasonable for Kayosiv to clean up. As you can see, I'm still using a lot of unpainted and proxy models for my army. Things are slow going to change this, as money is an issue and I really don't like the zombie or ghoul models so I'm not eager to buy them. I'd like to get painting soon on what I do have though.


Turn 1: Vampire Counts

Movement: On the left flank, the vargheists move up and angle to threaten the hellcannon. The ghouls and 2 spirit hosts move forward at their painfully slow natural movement because they cannot march. The wolves, while also unable to march, are fast enough to go up a decent bit and angle themselves for re-direction in later turns. Kayosiv flies up to threaten a wide arc of targets, and the black knights move into the woods to take advantage of their ethereal steeds rule should they be the victim of a long charge. The 2 units with necromancers just stay put, as I don't think either of them can do much at this point in the game. even a horde of skeletons is going to be useless against chaos warriors or a horde of marauders.

Magic: Most of my magic is dispelled, but I do manage to grow 8 zombies in the center of the board with a successful invocation of Nehek.

Turn 1: Warriors of Chaos

Movement: He moves his warshrine on the left flank in front of the Hellcannon to protect it from a vargheist charge, and mostly just moves everything else up. His chaos sorcerer moves well behind his lines, protected from all angles, but close enough to cast spells.

Magic: He casts baleful transmogrification on my Vampire Lord to draw out dispel dice, but I just let it through and it does no wounds because of my high leadership. I am able to dispel flickering fire and he casts infernal gateway on my lord, which my necromancer dispels with his dispel scroll.

Shooting: His warshrine's grant his chosen +1 armor save, and his hell cannon +1 leadership. The hell cannon takes aim at my vampire lord, and scores a direct hit. Luckily he fails to wound Kayosiv, but Rupert takes 4 wounds from the hit, making me a lot more tentative about getting him into combat.

End of Turn 1:



Turn 2: Vampire Counts

Movement: I declare several charges, all of which make it. The nice surprise was that the vargheists made their long charge into the warshrine over on the left flank. My center ghostly spirit hosts make a charge into his hounds, which hold. My dogs make a long flank charge into the flank of his horde of marauders, while my grave guard and dragon make it into the front. Finally, my black knights make the charge into his chaos knights, the only combat of which I'm not sure I'm going to win. The ghouls, other dogs, other spirit hosts, and zombies all move up slightly, but are all unable to march so with the exception of the dogs, don't get far.

Magic: Kayosiv manages to cast Hellish vigor on his dragon/himself, and heal the dragon of an important wound, bringing it up to 3. A curse of years on the marauder horde and my other magic is dispelled, but I manage to increase my zombies by a bit on a 1 dice invocation casting.

Combat: The black knights manage to lose to chaos knights by 1 point. My 2 killing blows weren't quite enough to get me a victory there. Only having killed 2 chaos knights, I think the black knight unit is doomed, as I wanted to hopefully pursue the chaos knights out of line of sight of the chosen. As is, they are lost to me. The marauder combat is the most butchering I've seen in 8th edition. When the dust had finally settled, there were 41 marauders dead, with Kayosiv and Rupert killing about half of that number (I used the pestilent cloud breath weapon). To their credit they killed half the grave guard, reducing them to a much less threatening 15, but were beaten in combat by more than double their leadership and were subsequently run down. The vargheists actually rolled amazingly well and despite the warshrine's impressive saves, tear it to pieces, overrunning into the hellcannon, preventing it from shooting next turn. The spirit hosts easily defeat and break the chaos warhounds, but their swift-stride gets them just out of reach of the pursuit and I fail to run them down.

End of Vampire Counts Turn 2:


Turn 2: Warriors of Chaos

Movement: The Chosen declare a charge into my black knights' flank, sealing their fate. No other charges, but the frenzied warriors move up and the sorcerer flies to safety from all retaliation. The warshrine repositions slightly. His war hounds fail to rally and run for the table edge.

Magic: The chaos player rolls a potent 8 power dice + 2 channels, giving me a measly 4 dispel dice. His Tzeentch Lord casts a brutal strength 7 flickering fire on my dragon riding Vampire lord. My armor and 4+ ward save fail me and the spell reducers Rupert and Kayosiv to 1 wound each. He then casts Infernal Gateway, again on my lord, on an impressive roll of a 20. I throw my 4 dispel dice at it, fearing the worst, but am pleasantly surprised as I easily dispel it with 3 sixes. All my dispel dice spent, the Chaos player casts pandemonium with his remaining power dice and the phase ends.

Shooting: The hellcannon is tied up by vargheists and cannot shoot, but the warshrine blesses the chosen with +1 attack.

Combat: With a massive amount of attacks at high initiative coming from the chosen and the chaos knights, the black knights cannot cope and are wiped out before they can even fight back. The chosen and chaos-knights reform to face the battle. The Vargheists and Hell-cannon inflict 3 wounds on each other, netting me the victory because I charged and was in the flank. The hell-cannon however was unbreakable and held. Losing 4 attacks because of the dead vargheist was a bummer, but with only 2 wounds left on the hell-cannon, I was confident I could kill it in the next round of combat with my 8 remaining attacks. Also on a positive note, the Hell-cannon attempted to reform to face me and failed.

End of Turn 2:


Turn 3: Vampire Counts

Movement: I declare a charge with my dogs into the already fleeing warhounds, forcing them to run off the table and netting me a few points. I also charge my ghostly spirit host into the flank of the chaos warriors, their frenzy forcing them to hold. Kayosiv Flies towards his two necromancers, desperately hoping to regain some wounds from their combined magical efforts. I reform my grave guard into ranks because horde formation is no longer doing me any good. My other set of dogs moves up to redirect the frenzied warriors should they defeat the spirit host. My skeletal spirit host moves towards the center of the board, hoping to tie something up in later turns. The ghouls, skeletons, and zombies stay put.

Magic: Casting everything I possibly can, I manage to only heal Kayosiv of 1 wound, bringing him up to 2 total, and Rupert of 0. Having a maximum of +2 to cast against a +4 to dispel is really rough, especially this phase when I really needed it.

Combat: Disaster strikes as the Vargheist's attack rolls go south, netting me only 1 of my 2 needed wounds to finish off the hell-cannon. It's return attacks are amazing (even the dwarves got like 2 wounds with their strength 3 attacks) and the vargheists crumble to death. The Spirit host also loses combat but only by 1, so crumbles a wound. The chaos warriors elect to stay in place.

Turn 3: Warriors of Chaos
Movement: His knights march around the forest while the chosen turn around to face the depleted grave guard unit. The warshrine moves to the center of the board and so does the chaos sorcerer, his eyes set on finishing off my wounded Vampire Lord and his undead mount.

Magic: The Tzeentch sorcerer successfully casts a flickering fire on my skeletal spirit host, but rolls a low strength and only scores 2 wounds. He then casts infernal gateway on my Lord, which I throw all my dice at but still fail to prevent. Luckily, he rolls a 4 for strength, but unluckily, he manages to again get past all my saves and wound my Vampire Lord, bringing him back down to 1 wound.

Shooting: The Hell-cannon takes aim once again on my Vampire Lord and scores a direct hit, rolling immensely well and killing both the dragon and my Vampire Lord. I'm a bit sore just because my 4+ ward save failed me 4 times in a row, never preventing any wounds. The crumble tests on my army are particularly bad, and my opponent and I decide to call the game as a massive victory in his favor.

End of turn 3, and the game:


Post Game Thoughts:

Well the scenario really borked me over from the beginning, but that's not why I think I lost. As much fun as the dragon is, and was, from 6th and 7th edition, 8th edition more than ever is an edition of wizards, and I simply cannot hope to be competitive with both a lord that is vulnerable to all shooting as well as unable to deal with enemy magic from level 4's. I have decided to shelf the dragon, although I know not what with which to replace it. All of my other infantry have been failing me lately as well. I've played a few games since this one and my infantry is constantly failing me. My Spirit hosts, knights, vargheists, and lord tend to do 100% of the killing while my infantry fail at all tasks I assign them to, from killing the most incompetent and small of units to even holding out for a single turns 2 combats, even at sizes of 50+. I think I am done with infantry.

For core, I think I will continue to take a unit of zombies and several units of wolves for redirecting, but skeletons are dead to me, and so are grave guard. I think I will try out a ghoul horde for my next couple of games. In sizes of 40 or so I think it can at least cause SOME damage to enemy core. The grave guard have constantly underperformed, and while I considered putting a hero vampire or perhaps my lord with them, I feel he is more useful to me in a black knight unit where he can be fast and have improved protection because of his barded steed. What to replace them with, I am not sure. I have tried one game with a hero on a coven throne. He performed decently, although did not survive the battle; though he certainly earned more than his victory points by the time he died. I'm thinking of trying out a unit of crypt horrors next. The dragon I have been using as a Terrorgheist, and while in the 2 games I have used him in he has not performed spectacularly, I think I will continue to use him as he is always decent, and the threat of him is very real and he absorbs a lot of fire from my opponents that takes heat off of my lord.

I will continue to tweak my list as I have not been happy with how all of it has performed. Even winning my last few games with Vampire counts, I feel like the army still plays very unfamiliar to me. Steadfast doesn't benefit undead, and grinding down opponents hoping to win through fear autobreak is gone, and I need to keep adapting to become proficient with the army again.

[Kayosiv]

Adjust to Change

Kayosiv once again attempted to re-knit Rupert together but his necromantic powers continued to fail as they had the entire battle. His magic was being tampered with from an outside source, he could just feel it. In the meantime, the zombie dragon was so damaged and tattered that he could scarcely keep airborne. Kayosiv turned the beast about face and retreated back to his necromancers, hoping that his magic disruption was an independent problem. He wouldn't get the chance to find out.

As he landed, Studge frantically yelled an unheard warning at him, just before the bolt hit. The Hellcannon's magical hellfire struck Rupert square in the center of his body, blowing him into pieces and hurling Kayosiv dozens of feet through the air only to heavily slam into the ground. Weakened and dazed, Kayosiv drifted into unconsciousness to the sounds of the heavy footfalls of those clad in plate armor.

Awakening with a start as he heard Studge's death scream, Kayosiv rose quickly but regretted it as his head throbbed and his vision swam. Shaking his head to clear the stars, he surveyed the carnage happening around him. Khorne worshipers were tearing apart Studge's skeleton bodyguard, as well as Studge himself. The battle, already in the chaos warriors' favor, soon shifted from a fight to a slaughter as the skeletons fell apart and exploded even before they were hit by their opponents' weapons. Kayosiv tried to strengthen the necromantic bond, but found his magic still stunted and useless. He screamed in rage and frustration. How could he have come so far to lose it all now?

As his battle line crumbled around him, he began looking for a possible escape route. He had lost his sword but still had his enchanted his shield, a fact that prevented his destruction as he used it to deflect a blazing hailstorm brought down by the Chaos Sorcerer flying above him. The flaming rocks ricocheted off his shield and landed on the ground, burning into the earth for several feet and turning the dirt into fiery liquid goop. Kayosiv ran for cover, keeping his shield held protectively above his head and frantically searching for his sword.

The chaos sorcerer's onslaught continued, as he easily kept pace with the fleeing vampire on his disk of Tzeentch, hurling fireballs of varying colors at the Vampire Lord. Kayosiv dove into an already desecrated elfin building. The sorcerer switched targets, instead blowing great chunks out of the elfin structure until it's stability faltered and the structure collapsed.

Dust settled as the structure's tumble to the ground came to an end and there was a short silence. With all of his necromantic minions destroyed, the collective eyes of the chaos forces watched the toppled building with anticipation. The chaos sorcerer, who was not so foolish as to assume the vampire destroyed, began to summon forth an infernal gateway to the nether realm of chaos, just to be sure. He didn't have time to finish his incantation however, as rock and bits of wood exploded forth from the wreckage. His armor and cloths in tatters, Kayosiv bellowed immortal rage at his foe. He leaped the vertical forty foot distance to the sorcerer, who had shielded his eyes from bits of rocks and debris that had shot skyward when Kayosiv emerged form the ruble.

The chaos sorcerer's sword whipped out in a flash, but it was batted away by a bare hand. Kayosiv's other hand slammed into the sorcerer's head, tilting it violently, and Kayosiv's fangs plunged into the side of the sorcerer's neck as the chaotic disk spun around in haphazard loops. The Vampire blanched as his fangs broke on a surface as unyielding as stone. Clutching at his broken teeth in surprise, Kayosiv was kicked off the flying disk as the chaos sorcerer regained control of his mount, sending him plummeting into the ground below.

Kayosiv groaned groggily as he woozily got to his feet. He was completely surrounded. The Tzeentch sorcerer hovered just above, and safely behind, a regiment of chosen warriors.

"You have lived far too long, lord of the night" the sorcerer said, smug satisfaction and a hint of malevolence in his tone. "I have had my eye on your soul for quite some time. My mouth waters for it." With that, he gestured towards the impatiently waiting Khorne warriors, who charged the vampire while screaming at the top of their lungs and with murder in their eyes.

Dismissing the the last statement as a Tzeentch peculiarity, Kayosiv readied himself to fight for his life. But before their charge could hit home, the momentum of the Khorne worshipers petered out and they slowed to a walk, heads looking past their previously intended target with mouths agape. At first Kayosiv didn't dare look behind him, but even the chaos sorcerer seemed stupefied by the spectacle so he risked a quick glance over his shoulder, and could not believe what he saw.

An entire Lizardmen host, complete with a Slann to lead them, was just finishing walking through a crackling dimensional rift. Whether they had arrived to stop him or the band of chaos warriors, or perhaps both, he did not know, nor did Kayosiv care. What mattered was the distraction the lizardmen were making. Most of the chaos marauders at his back had turned around to look at the arriving lizardmen, and he used this to his advantage. Making a mad dash through the living wall of men, he tore through and tossed aside the marauders as if they were made of straw. A few regained their senses in time to defend themselves but Kayosiv wasn't trying to fight them, merely wade through them.

"They're late" the Tzeentch sorcerer mumbled to himself, regaining his wits. He then noticed Kayosiv's desperate attempt at fleeing and shrieked in a panic.
"No, no you fools, he cannot escape, not again! We need him for the ritual!"

But it was too late, Kayosiv had made it through the wall of marauders preventing his escape and was bee-lining it to a nearby river. The marauders tried to turn to pursue him but were halted as an enormous fireball exploded in front of them, missing the vampire lord by only a few yards. Blown forward by the concussive force of the blast, Kayosiv landed in the water, and began swimming with the current to freedom.

"RRAAAAAAHHHHWWWKKK" the sorcerer squawked out in rage, sinking to his knees and pounding his disc with his fists, causing it to sink down and shift haphazardly in the air.
"The Slann will PAY for this! Battle formations!"
The chaos troops, despite all being bunched up in a circle, spread out as best they could to prepare for the lizardmen advance. The Tzeentch sorcerer seethed with rage and frustration. The lizardmen were late, days late, and they hadn't brought the engine of the gods with them. They were supposed to bring it! His whole plan was now ruined. How could his prophetic visions have been so wrong? He would subjugate the stupid slann, MAKE HIM bring forth an engine of the gods. For the Chaos Gods were his masters and he had been instructed to procure one, as well as an immortal soul. He had been robbed of one necessary ingredient today; he just had to make sure that he got the other.

[Kayosiv]

BATTLE 8: Jaws of Defeat
Scenario: Battle for the pass

My list: Lizardmen

Lords: 618
GENERAL: Slann (Sotarkesh): Level 4 wizard, Lore of Light. 2 Disciplines of the Ancients.
Magic Items: Divine Plaque of Protection (2+ ward save against ranged attacks)
Disciplines of the Ancients: Focused Rumination (+1 free power dice per cast). The Becalming Cogitation: (At start of enemy magic phase, choose 1 wizard within 24”, Ignore all 6’s by that wizard when casting)
Spells:
Shem's 0 Burning Gaze, 1 Pha's Protection, 2 The Speed of Light, 3 Light of Battle, and 6 Birona's Timewarp.

Lord: Saurus Old Blood (Kro’Qua): halberd
Mount: Cold One
Magic Items: Glittering Scale Armor (-1 to be hit in close combat), 4+ ward, Venom of the firefly frog (poisoned and magic attacks)

Heroes: 176
BATTLE STANDARD BEARER: Scar-Veteran (Kai'Qu): BSB, great weapon.
Mount: Cold One
Magic Items: Armor of Fortune (+2 armor 5+ ward), Stone of Good Luck (re-roll 1 failed armor save)

Core: 916
30 Saurus Warriors with full command.
30 Saurus Warriors with full command.
10 Skinks with Javelins and Shields and musician.
10 Skink skirmishers with blowpipes.
10 Skink skirmishers with blowpipes.

Special: 361
Stegadon
10 Chameleon skinks with stalker.

Rare: 425
Salamander with 3 skink crew
Salamander with 3 skink crew
Ancient Stegadon


His List: Warriors of Chaos

Lords: 370
GENERAL: Sorcerer Lord: Level 4 wizard,
Mark of Tzeentch, Disk of Tzeentch, Talisman of Preservation, Spell Familiar

Heroes (625 max):300

Exalted Hero: Mark of Tzeentch, Chaos Steed, Halberd, Dragon Helm, Talisman of Endurance

Chaos Sorcerer: Infernal Puppet, Lore of Fire.

Core:719 w/ dogs
50x Marauders of Chaos: Standard Bearer, Great Weapons, Mark of Khorne
22x Chaos Warriors: Standard Bearer, Champion, Halberds, Mark of Khorne
5x Chaos Hounds

Special:651
14x Chosen: Standard Bearer, Champion, Shields, Favor of the Gods, Wailing Banner, Mark of Tzeentch
5x Chaos Knights: Standard Bearer, Champion, Banner of eternal Flame, Mark of Tzeentch

Rare:465
Hellcannon
Warshrine
Warshrine

Deployment:

Couple of clarifications. At the time I did not have enough Saurus warriors to run 2 units, so no the saurus are not in a unit of 10 with cold one cavalry behind them or in an illegal formation, they are just proxies. Also, my slann is proxied by a very unslann-looking Carnisaur model. Lastly, the chameleon skinks are not deployed at the time of this picture, they actually end up scouting 12" to the left of his hellcanon.

Turn 1: Warriors of Chaos

Movement: The left side of the chaos board all uniformly moves up 8", with the chaos knights holding back from going their full speed to support the warriors beside them. The chosen and warshrine move up to the base of the hill, followed by the chaos sorcerer lord. The marauders go their full distance of 8 inches to the base of the large woods on the right side of the board. The hellcanon doesn't move, but takes aim at my slann Sotarkesh.

Magic: I manage to dispel a flickering fire, call to glory, and a fireball. I gamble that he can't cast infernal gateway on 3 dice but lose, and infernal gateway goes off on my center-most Saurus unit. You always have to hold your breath when that spell is cast on an expensive infantry block, but the damage if fairly minimal, only killing 5.

Shooting: The hellcannon lands a magical blast right on Sotarkesh's head, but my opponent learns the hard way that he has a 2+ ward save against all shooting thanks to his Divine Plaque of Protection. The warshrine's both buff the chosen unit, giving with the eye of the gods table granting them +1 armor save as well as magic resistance 3.

Turn 1: Lizardmen

Movement: I angle my leftmost skink skirmishers so that if they are charged by the chaos knights, they will over-run into my salamanders and also will be unable to charge my stegadon. I move my saurus units up, but not at full speed, wary of charges from superior chaos troops. The center salamander moves up and angles to breath fire on the chaos warriors. My skink cohorts move to the crest of the hill, planning on fleeing a charge from the chosen if they feel so inclined. The stegadon, slann, and Battle standard bearer shift around the midfield, setting up charges for charges in turns 2 and 3, with the slann just positing in the middle of my battle line. I move the skink skirmishers on the far right exactly 15.5 inches away from the marauder horde, forcing them to test for frenzy but not being in any real danger. The chameleon skinks move so they are all in range of the hell cannon.

Magic:I manage to get Pha's Protection's -1 to be hit to all units within 12" of the slann, as well as Speed of light on the center unit of Saurus warriors.

Shooting:The left salamander's flame gout is short, but the center salamander happens to get far enough to engulf a few chaos warriors. Sadly, only 1 is wounded. Most of my shooting is out of range and the great bow on the stegadon misses. The chameleon skinks steal the show and manage to deal 3 wounds to the hellcannon.

End of Turn 1:


Turn 2: Warriors of Chaos

Movement: The worst possible thing happens, the hellcanon goes berserk and rams right into my chameleon skinks... dang it. He declares a charge with his knights into my left salamander, as well as a charge of his warriors into my saurus, I hold for both. When he declares a charge with his warshrine into my skinks on the hill however, I flee the heck out of there. There's no way they can take that thing on. Ensuing panic tests are passed and onto the magic phase. The warriors end up failing their charge into the saurus which sets them up perfectly for a counter-charge from the saurus and my ancient stegadon. The chosen unit moves up on the hill to be next to the warshrine and the marauders move into the woods and angle slightly towards my battle-line.

Magic: Of which there isn't one. My opponent only gets a few power dice and throws them all at infernal gateway, which doesn't even go off.

Shooting: Far more eventful here. The chosen replace their +3 magic resistance with stubborn and a 4+ ward save. They now have a 2+ armor save and a 4+ ward save... that's going to be a hard unit to shift.

Combat: The best possible thing happens. The chameleon skinks use their awesome kung fu ninja skills to do the two remaining wounds to the hellcanon. My opponent and I can't believe it. This gives me some distant hope for the chaos knights vs skink skirmisher combat... but probability finally falls back into logical reasonableness and the skinks are juiced and the knights overrun into the salamander.

Turn 2: Lizardmen

Movement: Kro'Qua charges into the Chaos Knights. My saurus charge in tandem with my ancient stegadon into the warriors of chaos with the exalted hero. My regular stegadon charges into the chosen, hoping to just hold them in place for as long as possible. The center painted saurus charge into the left warshrine, and problematically fail. My fleeing skinks rally and my remaining salamander moves to the flank of the marauder horde to try and get as many under the template as possible. Kai'Qu my BSB moves up next to the warshrine's flank out of everything's charge arc.

Magic: I get Pha's protection on the saurus in combat, as well as a 12" bubble speed of light on everything around the slann. Unfortunately I irresistible forced the speed of light, and then forgot the spell and ended my magic phase. So, good that I got 2 spells off, bad that my wizard is now level 3 and doesn't know that spell anymore.

Shooting: Over on the right flank, skink and salamander fire manage to kill off 9 of the marauder horde. Most of my opponent's other units are in combat or out of range so the rest of my shooting is wasted.

Combat: In the combat with the chaos warriors I manage to get 6 wounds with impact hits so I'm feeling pretty confident. however, even hitting on 3's my Saurus warriors only get 3 hits, 2 wounds, and both are saved by armor. To make matters worse, even though he's hitting me on 5's because I'm -1 to be hit and weaponskill 10, he STILL kills 6 Saurus. Just as I'm starting to doubt my chances his attacks on the stegadon's skink crew totally miss or bounce off their armor save. A roll of a 6 on the thunderstomp dice sees another rank of chaos warriors deleted and I win combat handily, he breaks and I peruse with both, running them down. The stegadon literally did 100% of the work there, getting 12 wounds through impact hits, attacks, and stomps while taking 0 wounds in return. The saurus just looked pretty and negated steadfast, but either way their combined efforts just netted me over 500 points.

Kro'Qua fared much worse. The salamander was totally destroyed giving the chaos knights 3 combat resolution and while Kro'Qua rolled well and scored 4 wounds, 2 were saved by armor and 1 by his 6+ ward save. While his champion was dead, I still lost combat by 3. Kro'Qua remained resolute though and managed to hold needing a 5.

The chosen proved as indestructible as I had feared. Between their 2+ armor save and 3+ ward save, they suffered 0 wounds from the stegadons impact hits, attacks and stomps. To make matters worse they even wounded the beast. I lost combat handily but managed to hold because of stubborn. I have no idea what I'm going to do about that unit. Nothing I have on the board can outfight it. Hopefully I can clog it with stegadons long enough to surround it and beat it through combat resolution.

End of Turn 2:


Turn 3: Warriors of Chaos

Movement: The warshrine on the right charges my remaining salamander and I flee a solid 11 inches, getting away soundly but also being a bit farther back than I wanted. He flies his sorcerer over past the woods to the right of the mauraders, which pass their frenzy restrain and angle towards the center of the boards and move up slightly. His warshrine on the left is marchblocked and cant' do much, so it angles to the left of the board to draw the saurus unit closer to the chosen.

Magic: pandemonium is cast and so is treason of Tzeentch on my painted saurus block. I decide that saurus are incapable of hurting anything, including themselves, and let in through. I am proven wise to not doubt the incompetence of my own troops as only 1 dies to the infighting. The chaos sorcerer then risks it all, casting infernal gateway on the same unit with 6 dice. He does not get irresistible force however and rolls rather low, with a total score of only 19. I only have 4 dispel dice to combat it but he has no more dice so I just throw all four to stop it and also get, exactly 19. WHEW!

Shooting: problems here, as the chosen give up their largely superfluous +1 armor save and get +1 strength. now they'll be wounding the stegadon on 5's instead of 6's, meaning I won't be able to lock them in place for nearly as long.

Combat: Kro'Qua, still not it top form from his injuries apparently, fluffs his attacks and takes a wound in return against the chaos knights. He loses combat by 2 but still manages to hold. He can't hold on forever though and I plan to get some help over to him as soon as I can. The stegadon still only takes 1 wound from the now strength 5 chosen and even manages to kill one of them with their reduces armor. However, this is not nearly enough to help me win combat and I lose again, but still hold due to stubborn and a BSB re-roll.

Turn 3: Lizardmen

Movement: I charge my painted saurus block into the warshrine and they hit home. My salamanders then rally, which was nice considering they were only on leadership 6. My skinks on the right side move up to block the marauders and shoot the chaos sorcerer respectively. The saurus that defeated the chaos warriors swift reform around to help Kro'Qua deal with the knight unit while my blue stegadon goes the opposite direction to get a charge off on the chosen. My chameleon skinks move towards the center of the board to shoot at things in later turns. Kai'Qu moves over to the left side of the board between my red stegadon and Kro'Qua, giving his BSB re-roll to both. My slann shifts over a few inches to the left for the same reason.

Magic: First thing I do is dispel pandemonium. I manage to get pha's protection on my red stegadon, hoping that will help it survive a little longer. I try to 12" bubble a speed of light on 5 dice but it is dispelled.

Shooting: Skink shooting manages to kill 2 marauders as well as take a wound off his Chaos Sorcerer. With a 1+/3++ he certainly wasn't expecting that. Only 2 more wounds to go.

Combat: Kro'Qua takes yet another wound by the chaos knights, bringing him down to a dangerous single hit point. He manages to kill the one in return but loses by 1 because of their banner. He manages to hold in no small part because of the recently relocated leadership of Sotarkesh and Kai'Qu's re-roll. The warshrine kills one saurus warrior and takes no wounds in return. I beat it handily but it still passes its break test. Pha's protection does it's job and the chosen are unable to hurt the red stegadon. I can't do any wounds back though so it again loses but again holds due to stubborn leadership 9.

End of turn 3:


Battle Continued on next post.

[Kayosiv]

Turn 4: Warriors of Chaos

Movement: The marauder horde, tired of being shot at all game, charges the skink cohorts. I elect to stand and shoot, hoping to take a few with me and resigning the brave skinks to their fate. His wizard flies up to just below the hill and the warshrine moves next to him.

Magic: Flickering Fire hits my salamander unit, although miraculously doesn't kill it, inflicting 2 wounds on the salamander and killing 1 skink handler. My opponent and I then have a "6 dice war" of casting and dispelling infernal gateway against my battle standard bearer Kai'Qu. I lose. Thankfully, the 10 hits are only resolved at strength 4, and between high toughness and good armor saves, Kai'Qu is able to shrug off the spell in its entirety without taking any wounds.

Shooting: The warshrine decides that +1 strength on the chosen is worth keeping and elects not to bless anything.

Combat: Pha's protection continues to keep the chosen at bay. Unable to hurt the stegadon, in no smart part to some lucky armor saves, the chosen prove just as invincible to retaliation and suffer no wounds, once again winning the combat. The warshrine doesn't fair as well and is once again defeated by the saurus warrior block. This time however it fails its leadership test and flees, only to be run down.

Kro'Qua manages to kill another knight but that's not enough for him to win combat against a banner and a musician. With the knight unit down to only 2 models, I'm somewhat regreting commiting and entire saurus block to save my oldblood. Kro'Qua does what he has to for this plan to work, and holds for a final time.

Turn 4: Lizardmen

Movement: Regret or no, commited is what I am so the saurus charge into the flank of the knights. The blue stegadon charges into the chosen's flank. Both charges connect. Kai'Qu elects to hold back to spread his 12" Hold Your Ground bubble to as many things as possible. I move my salamander to the flanks of the marauder horde in order to shoot at it most efficiently. The chameleon skinks continue to move to the right side of the board, with the intention of shooting at things in later turns. Sotarkesh shifts up a bit out of the warshrine's charge arc, and the saurus move up and to the left of the board to charge the chosen in the following turn. My remaining skink skirmisher unit moves behind the marauders to continue peppering them with blowpipe fire.

Magic: Sotarkesh manages to get off a 12" pha's protection bubble to almost everything in my army. I try to cast some other spells but they are dispelled or fail.

Shooting: Skink and salamander shooting is particularly devastating to the marauders, with he salamander getting a direct hit covering almost half the unit in flame. The unit is reduced in size by almost a third.

Combat: Hilariously enough, even with all my attacks, the last 2 chaos knights take no wounds at all, but don't inflict serious damage either, going for the kill on the Oldblood and failing to remove his final wound. They lose handily and break, killing the standard bearer and sending the musician packing. Since they were so close to the edge of the board and unable to rally on anything but double 1's, I opt not to peruse and turn both unit and character towards the center of the board.

I get pretty excited when the blue stegadon manages to kill 2 chosen with impact hits, but my joy soon turns to worry. Even with the pha's protection, the chosen mince the red stegadon, taking off all 3 of its remaining wounds and killing it outright. I kill another chosen with a stomp attack, but even that isn't enough to win the combat and the chosen reform. It seems they are ready to take on my whole army.

End of turn 4:


Turn 5: Warriors of Chaos

Movement: Remember that single knight musician who could only rally on double 1's? Well he rallies on double 1's. The marauders are blocked and can't charge anything, so the warshrine spins to the left and the chaos sorcerer flies down by the water in a tag team attempt to box my slann in and charge him. The marauders are then found to be marchblocked so only go 4 inches towards my lines, angling to get line of sight on the saurus unit.

Magic: The chaos sorcerer casts pandemonium and has infernal gateway dispelled. He tries to cast flickering fire on 1 dice but rolls a 2 and fails.

Shooting: none

Combat: The chosen go to town on my blue stegadon, inflicting 5 wounds on it and killing it in a single go before I can even strike. They reform to face my closest saurus unit.

Turn 5: Lizardmen

Movement: I mull over charging the chosen with my saurus warriors, and decide against it. My thought process was that it was a unit I couldn't beat. It was also a unit I couldn't beat with only 11 guys in it, so I was going to be steadfast, meaning his charging down a hill wouldn't matter as I'd be on leadership 8 no matter what. Since I couldn't beat the unit, charging it was just giving it another round to beat up on me, and the game was winding down. So, I hold off on that charge, banking on the notion that as indestructible as the chosen are, they won't be able to break me in the 2 rounds of combat the game has left.

Kro'Qua in the meantime charges the warshrine and makes it. The skinks and salamander all shift around the marauders to continue killing them to death. Kai'Qu, tired of having infernal gateway sent his direction, joins the unpainted saurus unit for a bit of protection after they head 8" towards the center of the board. My slann moves up to where if he gets charged by the chaos sorcerer and holds, the unpainted saurus unit can flank.

Magic: I once again attempt to cast pha's protection, this time on the saurus unit closest to the chosen, but disaster strikes. I roll double 1's on two dice and fail, ending my magic phase with nary a spell cast.

Shooting: Another round of pain for the marauders, as another direct hit flame template decimates the unit. After the skinks shoot down a few more with blowpipes, there is only a dozen left in the unit.

Combat: Kro'Qua doesn't manage to deal any wounds to the toughness 6 warshrine and its 4+ ward save, but he does beat it in combat because of his charge and it breaks. It is however able to get away by two inches.

Turn 6: Warriors of Chaos

Movement: What's left of the marauder horde charges Kro'Qua, hoping to take off his 1 remaining wound and score his points. I would have fled, except with the chaos sorcerer on one end and the rallied chaos knight musician on the other, it was far too risky. The chosen charge into the saurus block and I can only hope the damage he does is minimal and that my could blooded leadership holds. The chaos sorcerer flies left, just to the left of the rocky outcrop. The warshrine manages to rally. The single chaos knight retreats, getting far away from anything that might kill him and give up the points for his unit.

Start of turn 6, after charges but before remaining movement:


Magic: Flickering fire and infernal gateway are cast on my unpainted saurus block, but he rolls low for strength both times and only a single saurus ends up dying. I dispel pandemonium since he has used up all his dice.

Combat: The chosen prove how much better they are than saurus warriors by ripping an entire rank off the unit. I'm able to do absolutely nothing against them and he wins handily, but I hold. Kro'Qua goes absolutely to town on the marauders, killing no less than 5. I hold my breath but their numerous strength 5 attacks aren't able to finish the stubborn oldblood and they break and flee. I consider not chasing them and trying to run them down on turn 6 with skinks and setting my sights on the warshrine, but decide that I'd rather have the guaranteed points vs fighting a battle against a warshrine that might kill me and might not run from combat. Kro'Qua peruses and runs the few remaining marauders down.

Turn 6: Lizardmen

Movement: Kai'Qu declares a long charge out of his unit against the chaos sorcerer, who is close enough to the edge of the board that he dares not flee. Bonus being that he actually rolls the 10 he needed and makes it! Not much other movement is necessary but my skinks move in towards the warhsrine, hoping to finish it off with shooting.

Magic: I try to cast Pha's protection on the Saurus and get it off with irresistible force. My heart skips a beat when I roll a dimensional cascade with a little nudge from the Infernal Puppet, but I merely take a wound instead of being sucked into the warp. I lose a lot of dice from the miscast but throw my remaining on timewarp at the saurus, but am thwarted by a handful of dispel dice from my opponent.

Shooting: All shots go on the warshrine, and after the flaming breath and several dozen blowpipes the warshrine only takes a single wound.

Combat: I'm glad my slann didn't die to his miscast because pha's protection might as well not even been there. In the chosen/saurus combat, I once again get beaten down horribly, but importantly so horribly that not only am I not steadfast, but he actually outnumbers me! I still can't do a single wound in return. I am defeated by 6 but manage to hold on a 3 thanks to the leadership of the nearby slann!


Kai'Qu, even at strength 7, can't get past the chaos sorcerer's high armor and ward saves, although he can't wound me either. I hope that I can win through the sheer combat resolution of charge plus banner. He's down to leadership 6, but passes his break test, and that ends the game.


End of Turn 6:


Result: Victory to the Lizardmen by 864 points.

Post Game thoughts: Overall a fun game where I had some really good luck early on that carried me through the end. Defeating the warrior unit with hero in it because I rolled 12 impact hits + thunderstomps is about as lucky as you can get. The hellcannon being defeated by the the weakest of the weak was also particularly lucky in my favor. I feel like I handled the marauder and chosen units well, sacrificing some points against them but keeping them from running amok and causing too much damage. I was really surprised that Kro'Qua was so beaten up by those chaos knights. I should have probably sent more his way to support him and am lucky that he held for so many turns without any help. In future games I think I'm going to run my BSB inside a unit. It might not protect him from cannons, but it can help him vs a lot of shooting and spells. The game was a lot closer than it looks at final glance. If my Slann had been sucked into the warp from the dimensional cascade, the saurus unit wouldn't have held and they would have potentially been run down by the chosen. That shift in points alone would have been enough to prevent the win.

[Kayosiv]

Update: Game 7 completed. In the following days/weeks I think I'll be focusing on catching up with my fluff so that the story actually flows like in my head instead of leaving off at an illogical cliffhanger. I've got "stuff" planned I swear, and I hope you all enjoy.

Posts 68 and 76 will be receiving updates until they are finished before I begin the 8th report on post 77.

[MOMUS]

What news of the lizards Kayosiv?

[Kayosiv]

Started my first week of work at my Summer Job and have had no time to write battle report fluff. I haven't been getting many games with my lizardmen lately because my friend who plays warriors of chaos has been defeating me lately with vampire counts and I've been modifying my lists and tactics in an attempt to beat him because he has been crushing me so thoroughly. What's awesome is that the string of defeats at his hands has ended finally and I've gotten 2 wins in a row, bringing the total to something along the lines of 2 wins and 5 losses with my vampires against his Warriors of chaos. He does however want to play my lizardmen for the same reason (I don't believe he's ever beaten my lizardmen, if he has it's been a long time) so I'll hopefully get a few games in with him soon.

In other news I just contacted Oncebitten and he says that, while he is busy, he can probably get in a game with me over skype and he has lizardmen and vampire counts pieces at his disposal to use. I'm super exited about this because I've been a fan of Oncebitten's reports for years and have watched well over 200 of his youtube videos. When I was living in the dorms and was unable to play warhammer for many months at a time, Oncebitten's games were the only ones that I got to watch, so to speak. Hopefully we can set that up soon as well.