The Journal of Aethric the Withered (lizards)

[Kerill]

Posted in right place this time

Well I've bought a lizardmen army but they will be chaos themed and led by a Sorceror of Tzeentch. Being converted and glued now and will have their first battle this week. For now here's the fluff and the list I plan to try:

The journal of Aethric the withered.

2276 From the auguries I have cast for the last 50 years, the most auspicious time to strike has finally come. With the bloated slann occupied with the great war in the north now is the time to strike Goqhui. Hidden deep in the southlands, east of the great mountains. My guard now take to their ships from the southern wastes, the time has come!

2277 We have made landfall, despite the massive influx of magic energy it has proven difficult to ward my force from prying magic but despite a few strikes the barriers have held. We are approaching the city now, my forces will attack towards the temple of the sun in the east of the city whilst I will cloak myself with magic and head directly to the great pyramid at the centre.

From this point forward the journal is written in a far more crabbed, spidery hand.

Ahhh, the pain! It courses through me. I reached the pyramid under cover of magic and diversion and launched a bolt of writhing change at the slann, somehow the creature managed to deflect most of the magic. We dueled with mighty forces, I have dueled many a mage in preparation for this, yet it’s thought and magic was so different from anything I have encountered. The raw energy of chaos filling the skies was all that allowed me to defeat the creature, yet not without cost. It managed to strike me with a cold white fire that blasted my flesh and seared my bones. Were it not for the aid of the great Changer I surely would have perished. My warband has been cut to pieces, fallen to the last, yet they served their purpose. I have sealed the pyramid with magic and none of the lizard creatures has sought to break through the barrier, strange but I am glad for the relief, my powers are barely a dim glow at present.

2278 The treasures! The potency of the relics of the slann is now mine, whilst I have still not discerned the use of some my arcane powers have greatly increased, even though my body has not recovered. Running or even walking for a long time brings pain and even unconsiousness. I have been forced to summon a sky shark to allow me to move around more easily. I have learned the language of the slann through a daemonic pact and have studied the lizard creatures here. It seems without their bloated toad they lack purpose and will, in 6 month none have attempted to attack the pyramid, they are a race of slaves, now I must discover how to bend them to my will.

2280 At last, success! I have managed to imprint my will upon them, they follow me now as they did their slann master, obedient and useful. A race designed to follow unquestionably, once they have been imprinted once it seems they follow blindly from then on. All that remains is to continue research into their spawning, that I might create a larger force.

2284 By adding warpstone into the spawning pools and researching further the slann archives I have managed to spawn both skink and saurus although one of the saurus pools, to which I had introduced the most warpstone, has produced mostly mutated things that squirm and flop and resemble miniature chaos spawn more than anything else. Apart from these however another kind of saurus has spawned. These have thicker skin than any of those from the other pools, and many clearly bear the taint of chaos. They are also more aggressive and more loyal than the others, from these I will form an elite guard. I will not further taint the remaining pools however, I need numbers to form an army. The kroxigor pools have as yet failed to spawn anything, I may need to add more warpstone.

2286 I have decided to mimic the forces of the lizardmen as far as possible, relying on their inbred proclivities to maximize their effeciveness. However a new frustration has appeared, despite being able to subjugate the wills of the great lizard beasts of the jungle easily they cannot be imprinted like the lizardmen and I cannot control too many beasts at the same time, certainly not whilst using other magic. Some other way must be found. The Kroxigor have still failed to breed despite the increase in warpstone in the spawning pool. I have summoned a lesser daemon of change and bound it to the pit in the hopes that the essence of change can stir life.

2292 At last, success with the Kroxigor, although I think perhaps it is no longer appropriate to think of them in those terms. The creatures that have been spawned bear only a little resemblance to Kroxigor spawned by the slann. These ones I have created bear the mark of Lord Tzeentch in many ways, their heads are often very avian in nature and many of them have a disc-like lower body that floats above the ground rather than legs, a strange disc-ogre. They are also much more cunning and intelligent than the dumb brutes of the slann, a further sign of Tzeentch’s will. Their disc nature suggests a solution to another problem, hmmm

2293 My attempts to allow skinks to ride sky sharks to battle has failed. Not only does contact with the daemons cause the skinks great pain, they also sicken and die within days or weeks, there must be a way around this! A further cause for concern is that one of the skink pools has only brought forward a single spawning that has not yet hatched. The other pools are spawning normally, but this is a cause for concern if it should spread.

2293 Ahh, understanding comes, when the skink was finally hatched it bore the marks of one of the lesser sorcerers of the lizards. It’s first action was to attempt to strike me down with a bolt of lightning. Amazing that these things can wield magic even from birth! I tried and failed to imprint it for many days and was forced to annihilate the creature as the other skinks were becoming restive and less obedient when near it.

2303 The great war in the North ended and the slann struck at my wards with incredible force and they were shattered, I was forced to transfer my essence to the warp to avoid their attack. I have now created wards of incredible power around he city using the lizardmen artifacts, monoliths and my own magic. Nevertheless my presence here is no longer a secret, they are certain to launch an attack with their forces here, and I must prepare for war.

2304 My skink scouts brought word of a large force of lizardmen marching across the great mountains towards my city. Scrying has shown me they are led by a saurus of incredible age, initial skirmishes have show that this creature fights with a power and ferocity that outmatches even my chaos touched bodyguard and bears a weapon of power that might even be able to penetrate the warding runes of my armour. My army is also much smaller in size and lacks the 3 huge terror lizards that this “oldblood” brings with it into battle, this will be a true test of my worthiness in the eyes of Tzeentch.

2304 The battle is over, and won, albeit at incredible cost. I led my host to battle in the plains before the city, which almost proved my undoing. As I marched my bodyguard into position they smaller flying terror-lizards with skink riders appeared in the skies above and rained rocks upon us. I lost fully half the bodyguard before finally blasting them from the skies with magic. The plains also allowed the giant horned terror-lizards and their skink crew together with the smaller horned ones, a species similar to the cold ones that dark elves ride, to use their speed to hammer through my lines. Two whole regiments of saurus were cut down by them before one of the giant creatures were brought down by the poisoned throwing spears of skinks. A second was brought down by a mixture of poison and magic, the final one however ploughed through the lines and charged my bodyguard. Many were trampled or gored to death by the great beast and I was forced to summon a gateway to the realm of chaos to deal with the beast before my bodyguard was utterly destroyed. This feat drained me for much of the battle and whilst a regiment of spear-armed saurus managed to defeat the horned one cavalry my forces were still overmatched. The “oldblood” and his retinue broke through the line, the creature even butchering one of my disc-ogres, and advanced against my bodyguard. Whilst my bodyguard were stronger than the other saurus the oldblood with his magic blade was cutting through the press towards me, it was only my reserve disc-ogres charging in from behind that managed to kill him. After his death many of the opposing force lost heart and I used magic to trick and confuse the creatures into attacking one another, eventually they broke and were fled but my forces were too exhausted or slow to be able to hunt them down, of my bodyguard unit only two remain alive, one I have named Dhaak Fhor, the other Kwhar-tzu, one will lead my bodyguard once it is restored, the other I intend to groom for leading raiding forces and armies and I have granted him the enchanted weapon of the old-blood. There is no doubt that my forces, for all their ferocity are tactically inferior to those of the lizardmen, infantry alone cannot carry the day and I must find some way to neutralize my opponents advantage. Today magic turned the tide, yet if a slann had been present there is no doubt my army would have been defeated. As it is my army is decimated and it will take me a long time to rebuild them to their former level.

2330 I have finally discovered a way to allow the skinks to ride the sky-sharks without dying, by forcing the creatures to wear warpstone amulets of increasing size after spawning they have become inured to the forces of chaos. More than half still die during the process, but the remainder are able to ride sky sharks successfully and I am confident the speed and manoueverability of the discs is far superior to that of a clumsy flying dinosaur brute. Skinks have also found a clutch of 5 terror-lizard eggs (and dealt with the terror-lizard who had laid them), I must find a way to use them.

[Kerill]

2348 Once again warpstone has proved the key, by injecting warpstone powder into the eggs, when they hatch they are far more chaotic but also are sufficiently intelligent to be trained. Of three eggs not wasted in experiments, three bore fruit, but one of the creatures was so mindlessly aggressive I was forced to put it down. The remaining two are hexapedal and whilst they lack the tough scales of the terror-beasts their skin is harder than iron. As of yet they are still far too small to bear a howdah but if they continue to grow they will be a force to be reckoned with.

2360 Raiding and scouting forces of lizardmen have continued to intrude upon my territory, most of which I have had a comfortable advantage of numbers over. For the last engagement I allowed Kwhar-tzu to command the engagement and was impressed with his performance, it seems I have chosen well. My elite bodyguard grows slowly, currently less than a score have been spawned, and the spawning of saurus seems much slower than that of the skinks despite my effort. The warriors lost in the first battle are proving difficult to replace quickly. The disk riders have proven very useful for keeping watch over my territories and have proven useful also in battle, the spawnbeasts from the terror-beast eggs continue to grow and are now taller and more massive even than my disc-ogres.

2365 From my scrying I have managed to locate the existing lizardmen cities in the southlands, although I am unable to penetrate the city wards. My main threats appear to be to the West from a city named Zlatlan and to the north where there is a city named Teotiqua. Not only do both cities regularly send forces to raid my territory, I am unable to move against one city without opening myself entirely to the forces of the other. At present it is an awkward stalemate and if both cities were to move against me at once in force I would be crushed. I must hope that the destruction of the forces of Zlatlan sent at me sixty years ago will have weakened the city enough to prevent this from happening, meanwhile I am bending my scrying to prevent a surprise attack from either quarter.

2380 Ahh, foolishness indeed, little did I think of an attack from the south, yet it was from there that I came. The warband of Krong the bloody landed a fleet upon my shores and it was only through a disc-rider patrol that I was able to prepare for it. Krong himself rode forth on his mighty daemon steed to demand I surrender. I immolated the fool for his presumption and gave his forces a similar ultimatum- join me or die. Many stayed loyal to their weak war god and were cut down by my forces, some, however, have joined me and now I have a fleet of warships although I lack crew. Even better there was a smith amongst the survivors and he is crafting better weapons and armour for my bodyguard, whilst I am enscribing the armour plates with runes of protection. In truth I was growing weary of enslaved skinks for company and may have been going slowly insane, it is good to have human followers again, although I must be aware that they can not be imprinted to serve like my skinks or saurus.

2367 I sent my raiders south and augmented the crew with skinks. Strangely although naturally aquatic they are unable to swim the seas well, the salt in the water appear to burn through their breathing membranes and even those who stay aboard ship seem to have ill effects. They also grow torpid in cold weather and all in all skink crew seems to have been a failed idea. Nevertheless raids have brought more slaves and livestock and women for breeding. They also managed to capture some firewyrms which the skinks have proved adept and prodding into combat and to release their flames. The last raid also saw a fellow sorcerer of Tzeentch,Menlath, join my followers, and although of lesser power than myself, he will doubtless be a useful tool. Menlath has proven adept at managing and commanding the marauder encampment, and I am well pleased so far.

2380 Another of the skink magic users was spawned and this time, with the aid of Menlath managed to imprint it. Galling though it is, it was Menlath who ascertained that the telepathic link between the skink and the nearest slann is what prevented imprinting it. By severing the link it can be imprinted, although apparently this also permanently breaks the skink’s ability to use its telepathy. Perhaps now with a force of magic I can finally move out of my disadvantageous stalemate.

2381 Treachery! Menlath and the skink mage attempted to destroy me whilst I was scrying. Fools to even try! With my magic might and the artifacts in my possession the two combined were unable to defeat me. I may be withered in body but not in mind or power! Menlath had also suborned a large part of my human forces and used them to attack the pyramid. They were cut down by the disc-ogres before they reached the top. I have lost both followers with sorcerous talent and almost half my marauders. Still should another magic user be hatched I know now how to bend the creature to my will, and I know also that their telepathy is not destroyed by doing so. My spawn beasts are finally big enough to carry a howdah and have been trained to obey both myself and the skink crew the search for more terror-beast eggs continues but none have yet been found. Still Menlath has taught me a lesson, by retreating to my sanctum of magic and divorcing myself from what was happening around me I had become almost slann-like.

2390 The attack I had been dreading finally came, both cities sent forces to attack me and I was forced to split my army, the larger slower force being sent with Kwhar-tzu to deal with the lizardmen from Goqhui whilst I took the faster forces west to deal with those from Zlatlan. Mindful of my previous mistakes I used the jungle, poison and magic to wear my opponents forces down before engaging and defeating them, the spawn beasts and disc ogres proving too powerful on the battlefield. I planned to march on Zlatlan and attempt to sack it to finally gain the upper hand. Unfortunately my the force led by Kwhar Tzu was soundly beaten and broken, mostly by the unopposed magic of the skink astromancers who summoned a rain of comets upon the army. I was forced to turn back and deal with them although they retreated before my combined forces and returned to their city. Once again I have won and lost, although I have punished Kwhar Tzu I know the lack of magical defence for his force was the real problem.

2450 The bloody stalemate continues with the cities and raids from the south by marauder tribes have also increased. One was defeated in a decisive naval engagement, the other was defeated on the shores and more slaves were taken. Finally a new skink mage (who I have named Vilreth) has been spawned and by blocking it’s telepathy I was able to imprint it. With my now three-way war he may prove vital. I have managed to get the skinks to tame some of the smaller lizard beasts in the jungle for the saurus to ride, progress is slow but these “cold ones” should prove useful.

2462 Another clutch of Terror-beast eggs has been found, Vilreth’s power have grown, although he seems limited to Azyr and is unable to make use of dark magic. I am slowly gaining the upper hand and the southern shores have beaten off many warbands for little losses. My fleet is harrying the coastline near Goqhui to keep the city occupied. My forces have swelled to the point that I can now field two armies with a balance of troops.

2463 The terror beast eggs have hatched, this time with three surviving spawn-beasts, although it will take time they will be a vital addition to my forces.

2490 There has been a lull in engagements these last few years with fewer lizardmen incursions into my territory although any attempts I have made into theirs have been repulsed with heavy losses. Saurus are still too few for my needs and I have been training the skinks and disc-ogres to fight together, early results seem promising since they mesh together well, still I would prefer the more reliable saurus regiments and have to hope that the lizardmen cities are having the same troubles I am having with their creation.

2499 Two more skink mages have been spawned and imprinted and also a strange white skink that I was forced to destroy since it seemed to affect the other skinks in the same way as the first mage that was spawned, even though it had no magical ability I could discern.

2521 The stalemate may well be over, my raiding fleet was attacked by a slann from Goqhui, four ships burned to the water in the face of his magic and the remaining three limped home and will take weeks to repair. More and more scouts of the enemy are attempting to enter my lands and one skink disc rider patrol was blasted from the sky by lightning bolts, there can be no doubt that this war will remain cold no longer. A stranger has appeared in my lands, who also claims to worship lord Tzeentch, I will watch him carefully, perhaps the Great Changer wishes to aid me, but doubtless there are deeper schemes afoot.

The list:

Aethric the withered, sorceror lord of Tzeentch, disk, Curse charm of Tzeentch, The draining amulet, 2 power stones, armour of midnight, Master of sorcery.
(Slann mage priest with 2 power stones, cube of darkness, bane head, bsb and war banner. Disciplines: +1Pd per spell, drain magic, know all spells)
-480
Vilreth, level 2 skink priest, spell familiar, warpstone brazier, spawnbeast
(Plaque of Tepoc, EOTG)
-405

CORE:
18 Saurus, spears, standard, musician 234
10 skink cohort 50
11 skink cohort, krox, musician 116 (just to try it out)
10 skink skirmishers 70
10 skink skirmishers 70

SPECIAL
3 Disk riders 90 (terradons)
3 Disk riders 90 (terradons)
16 Warp Tainted Black Saurus, standard, champion 284 (Temple guard)
6 Saurus Cavalry 210

RARE
Firewyrm (salamander) 75
Firewyrm (salamander) 75

Total: 2250
PD: 9 base
DD: 6

First game tomorrow hopefully

[selone]

Interesting background you've got there, nice work, have you had a chance to do much painting yet? Gl with your first game.

[ScalySkin]

Great background, I look forward to seeing pictures of the army and battle reports from your first battle. Good luck.

[Kerill]

Well, I went to the store today to find no players and that the owner has gone away for a month so my eager army of lizards and their even eager owner didn't get a chance for a first test. Bum.

No painting done yet, still not finished converting everything although if anyone wants to see I'll pop them up, don't get your expectations too high though

[blackjack]

What is the "drain magic" slann ability? I play Lizards and can't seem to place it.

[Malorian]

Originally Posted by blackjack

What is the "drain magic" slann ability? I play Lizards and can't seem to place it.

It's an ability the slann had in their last rule book. It's not in the new one.

I assume he is talking about the new taking away 6's power.

[Kerill]

I am indeed.

[g0ddy]

Pictures! it all sounds fantastic!

~ zilla

[Kerill]

Originally Posted by g0ddy

Pictures! it all sounds fantastic!

~ zilla

Certainly, nothing is finished yet though but you can see the more chaotic bits here (the lesser lizards won't be mutated much since it doesn't go with the fluff)

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...m/DSC02134.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...m/DSC02135.jpg

In the front row you can see Aethric (unpainted as yet converted to carry a Tzeentch standard in the horror arm), 2 salamanders/razordons (converted from chaos spawn) and Kwhar-tzu the scar vet (5th edition plastic chaos warrior- since they have a similar hunched posture as saurus-with a saurus head and greenstuff tail) in the first row.

Second row are the disk riding skinks (terradons) and in the back you can see the engine of the gods (warpstone brazier isn't very big) and the disc rider who will represent Aethric until he gets painted.

All very WIP atm.

[selone]

it's getting there , keep us updated

[Kerill]

The battles begin!

Well I went to the store today where two players were playing a game of 40K apocalypse, Sun and Luke (apparently 3 other players failed to show), after their game I convinced Sun to crack out his bretonnians for a game of warhammer so I could actually use my lizards. He didn’t have all his army there so I suggested 1500 points, after adding up his roster though he only had 1316 points so I cut things from my army to make it equal. Since Sun if from Singapore and Luke is from the UK today’s games were carried out in English for a change (I live in China and my Chinese struggles a bit in some games  ). Both are true gentleman and Sun had beaten me in a tournament about a year before but had apparently hardly played at all since then. Luke is a 40K player and was hoping to recruit me for 40K whilst I tried to recruit him to play warhammer and he played the second game against me so I got two battles in today with the following lists:


His army (fairly soft, he always goes peasant heavy with two big buses in larger battles and usually uses a detachment style with each bus having a detachment of men at arms and skirmishing archers, works quite well):

Paladin, general, morning star, heavy armour, helm of +1AS and re-rollable armour saves
Damsel, horse, 2 scrolls
Paladin bsb, virtue of +1CR and conquerors tapestry

8 knights of the realm, FC, warbanner
trebuchet
10 archers
10 skirmishing archers
7/8 squires
grail reliquae and 16 guards
24 men at arms, halberds and shields

Total: 1316 points

Mine:

Khwar-Tzu (scar vet), chaos armour, firestorm blade (enchanted shield, burning blade, light armour )
Dhaak Fhor (Scar vet), bsb, GW, shield, light armour
Vilreth, spell familiar, spawn beast, warpstone brazier (Level 2 skink priest on engine of the gods, plaque of tepoc)
16 saurus with spears, FC (2 ranks of 6, one of 5 with bsb)
10 skink skirmishers
11 skink skirmishers
3 terradons
10 warp-tainted saurus (temple guard)
Salamander hunting pack

Total: 1316 points

Fluff:

2521 A large bretonnian warship, heavily damaged by storms beached on the shores near my city, I suspect it was blown off a course from Ulthuan and forced down the coast by the current although I am certainly not discounting the possibility that the Slann of the southlands may have directed its course to my shores rather than theirs. They have quite a large retinue of knights and men at arms that I am sure I could crush if I use all my forces but I fear to move my army from the Northwest of the city for fear the lizardmen of Zlatlan are waiting for an opportunity to strike at the city if my forces are distracted. The peasants are building crude war machines which is unusual and suggests that the bretonnians may be planning an incursion or at the least will be staying for some time- repairs to their ship alone could take months. So I have sent Khwar Tzu, Dhaak For and Vilreth with a smaller force to deal with the bretonnians or at least cause enough damage that they will not seek to move further into my territory. I can only hope that Khwar Tzu Tzu will not fail me this time.
….
It seems Khwar Tzu has launched a feint with some saurus cavalry and almost a third of the bretonnian force is chasing them through the jungle that is their home, the remaining force is going to be attacked by majority of Khwar Tzu’s army, and the forces are roughly equal in number, I will watch this battle with interest.

Deployment:

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...entbattle1.jpg

Salamander and handlers- red
skink skirmishers- light blue
Temple guard (with general) black
Saurus spears (with bsb ) blue
Stegadon- green
Terradons- orange

His army:

Grail reliquae- red
Knights with bsb- pink
Men at arms with general- blue
Trebuchet- black
Squires- brown
archers- browny green

He got bears anger, I got comet, portent and 6+ lightning
Brets prayed

Lizardmen turn 1

Everything moved up full tilt except the engine which, skinks and salamanders entering the respective forests and terradons flying into the left hand forest.
Magic: comet was scrolled, portent was dispelled, the priest went for the 5+ ward save alignment.

Brets turn 1

They moved up cautiously, about 8 inches so they were out of charge range of everything. The squires swept wide around the forest on my right.
Shooting managed to hurt a terradon and killed a saurus spearman. The squires shot a skink handler. The trebuchet scattered off target but killed three temple guard (1 was saved by the engine). Magic (bears anger on general) was dispelled and was dispelled every turn. Burning alignment went off with 7” and the knights and men at arms were both just in range, 2 men at arms and 4 knights fell (result!)

Lizzie turn 2

Salamanders fly over the archers and drop rocks killing 5 (pass panic) but with LOS to charge the trebuchet next round. Temple guard with general moved up full speed to prevent the knights charging the spear saurus. Spear saurus moved up more cautiously and the engine of the gods moved to get a flank charge if the temple guard were charged. The salamander moved up on the right and tried to flame the reliquae but overshot and only killed a few (passed panic). The terradons shot the archers but missed and the skinks on the left moved up so they would be able to move and shoot the archers next round. The right hand skinks moved out of the way to allow the spear saurus to advance. Magic was again dispelled or useless.

Bret turn 2

His unit of men at arms and knights charge the stegadon (both pass terror), grail reliquae charged the temple guard to prevent a flank charge from them on the knights. The squires moved around the forest to be in position for a rear charge on my army. Shooting saw the trebuchet scatter and other shooting did little apart from kill a skink or two. In combat the engine of the gods priest declared a challenge and the general accepted and put a wound on the shaman for none in return. The stegadon passed its stubborn test on the re-roll. The grail reliquae failed to do any damage to the temple guard and lost 4 men in return but won due to the musician (he forgot his hatred re-rolls though) stubborn test was again passed on the re-roll.

Lizzie turn 3

The terradons charge the trebuchet at the back. The saurus spears charge the grail reliquae (but only the bsb can get in combat and I forgot to use their spears). Left hand skinks move up to shoot the archers and the right hand skinks and salamanders move back to my side of the forest to counter the squires. Magic was again dispelled (second scroll used) burning alignment rolled 3” and killed a couple of men at arms, 1 knight and put a wound on the bsb. It was short of the reliquae. In shooting the salamander ate it’s remaining two handlers, failed the ld test but then rolled a 6 on the monster reaction chart. The skinks managed to fell 3 of the squires with double-shotted blowpiping and they panicked and fled. The other skinks managed to kill the remaining archers. In combat the skink priest died and the stegadon failed to wound the general again. Stubborn test was passed again. The terradons killed three crew but suffered a wound in return killing a terradon. The terradons then spiked the machine and the crewman ran home. The grail reliquae continued to get chopped to pieces.

Bret Turn 4

The squires rallied, in magic he failed to cast bears anger and shooting saw a couple more skinks fall. The stegadon was unharmed in the following combat and passed it’s stubborn test again. The grail reliquae was finally destroyed.

Lizzies Turn 5

The temple guard with general charged the flank of the knights, the right hand skinks moved to give the squires another taste of poison whilst the left hand skinks moved into a position to rear charge/crossfire the men at arms and the terradons moved to support them. The salamander went after the archers in the forest and managed to kill one with its breath attack (passed panic). The skinks killed all but 1 on the squires who panicked again and fled. In combat the knights were wiped out along with the bsb and the men at arms fled and were crossfired (I think the stegadon managed to actually do something this round and killed the general as well).

He conceded at this point I think.

Fluff:

As dusk was descending the other third of the bretonnian army returned from chasing the saurus cavalry and were positioned on the flank of Khwar-Tzu’s army and he was forced to retreat from the shore to the jungle to prevent the army being overwhelmed from the flank. Both sides collected their dead and wounded during the knight and it seems the enemy lord survived the battle and was healed by a bitch slave of the weak elf the bretonnians worship. The bretonnians show no sign of wishing to leave these shores and so Khwar-Tzu will once again face them in battle, once more the forces are even but this time the element of surprise is lost.

Second battle was using exactly the same lists. He got bears anger, I got second sign, portent and 6+ lightning


Deployment:

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...entbattle2.jpg

- so fairly similar although trebuchet was much safer this time since I elected to send my terradons after the squires to prevent any redirecting.

Salamander and handlers- red
skink skirmishers- light blue
Temple guard (with general) black
Saurus spears (with bsb ) blue
Stegadon- green
Terradons- orange

His army:

Grail reliquae- red
Knights with bsb- pink
Men at arms with general- blue
Trebuchet- black
Squires- brown
archers- browny green

Lizzies turn 1

I move up similarly to the last game, magic is useless or dispelled, again I go for the 5+ ward alignment. The terradons fly over the squires to in front of the archers and roll tremendously, destroying the entire unit (reliquae passes panic test). Terradons kill 1 archer with their shooting.

Brets 1

He moves up cautiously again, this time hoping to get a charge on the saurus spears who would probably fold under the attacks and CR. The trebuchet hits the temple guard and kills 3 or 4 of them and one saurus spear. The general is hit, fails his look out sir but is not wounded (rolled a 3, thank you T5!). The archers shoot at the terradons and kill 1, they fail panic, flee and are crossfired by the reliquae. (once again he never got bears anger off in his magic phase all battle)

Lizzies turn 2

I move the TG up to block his knights as much as possible and the skinks on the right march out of the forest to block the charge path on the spear saurus being very careful that the nearest model would in fact lead them charging toward the forest. Left hand skinks moved towards the archers. In magic the burning alignment falls short of everything and my magic is dispelled. In shooting the salamander shot at the generals unit of men at arms, was short but managed to kill 1 and they panicked!

Brets turn 2

The loss of the generals unit was a bit of a blow and the grail reliquae were too far back to combo charge with the knights. We had a bit of a conflab and he decided to try and take down the depleted temple guard so charged them with his intact unit of knights. The grail reliquae marched up but couldn’t quite get far enough to prevent the stegadon flank charging the next turn. The generals unit rallied. Shooting saw a couple of skinks drop dead on the left (leaving 9) and the trebuchet scattered and hit his knights in combat. 3 partials and 1 partial on a skink. The partials failed to hit knights and the skink proved too tough to wound! In combat I rolled well for saves and no temple guard fell whilst his champion was killed in a challenge (and +1 overkill). The temple guard pass their stubborn roll and a world of hurt was about to be unleashed on the poor knights.

Lizzies turn 3.

The skinks on the right are forced to charge his archers to clear a path for the spear saurus. The saurus spears and stegadon charge both flanks of the knight bus. The left hand skinks move up to start blowpiping the archers. The salamander moved after the rallied men at arms. In magic my mage miscast, rolled a 5 and allowed bears anger to be cast on his general, second sign was then failed on 2 dice. Burning alignment saw a knight or two and 2 reliquae fall. Shooting saw the left hand skinks only kill an archer or two (they were slightly out of range so 7 of them were hitting on 7+). The salamander hit the generals unit with its flames and managed to kill 5 or 6 of them (panic passed). In combat the knights were beaten badly and the bsb and damsel were killed (the damsel accepting a challenge from the bsb with his GW), the remaining 2 knights fled and were crossfired by the skinks on the left.
- bit of a rules issue here, technically they had to flee through the US10 stegadon still in combat- should this crossfire them anyway (we rolled a die during the battle and it didn’t).-
The TG took a test to prevent chasing and the stegadon pursued into the front of the grail reliquae and the spear saurus into the flank. At this point I was pleased my shaman had managed to survive much better this battle. The skinks on the right lost combat due to being outnumbered but passed their break test with a re-roll.

Brets turn 3

His generals unit charged the spear saurus in the flank and his left hand archers killed 2 more skinks (leaving 7 so no panic test). The trebuchet shot at the TG but he guessed too far but got a hit on the stegadon. All of the skink crew were wiped out by the S5 missile and the priest took the S10 hit to his head. The stegadons T6 was too much for the S5 hit though
- again not sure if we played this right or if the whole model should be hit by S10, in the end just the shaman got the really heavy bit-
In combat killed loads and won combat (despite only 2 impact hits and the death of the crew) with the scar vet and saurus carving a path through the reliquae. The reliquae passed their stubborn test (they never failed it) but the general (who killed the saurus champ in a challenge) and his men did a runner again! The skinks on the right once again lost combat but held due to the bsb and cold bloodedness.

Lizzies turn 4

The main combat continued and the TG were left out in the cold (although in hindsight I could have charged the general into the combat). The salamander out of spite moved up to flame the general’s unit again and this time got the range about right and fried 7 of them. The skinks on the left killed the remaining archers. In combat the skinks on the right broke (2 left so couldn’t rally) and the bretonnian skirmished archers charged into the big beastie in front of them (salamander). The grail reliquae unit was butchered as the saurus spears lowered their pointy sticks and at the end of the combat only the reliquae was left with 2 wounds, but passed it’s stubborn break test.

Brets turn 4

The general rallies again. The trebuchet shoots the TG and hits them. The general again fails his look out sir roll and gets a S10 rock in the head and dies along with 2 temple guard. In combat the reliquae is wiped out.

At this point he calls it a day and we all headed home.

Fluff:
2521 Khwar Tzu utterly crushed the human force and the proud knights of bretonnia lie dead on the shores. Some of the peasants survived and I have taken half to the city to either sacrifice whilst on the remainder I have managed reproduce a practice I have deciphered from the temple writings of cutting into the brain of a human or orc to make it compliant and easily imprinted, I will place this fodder and some small part of my lizardmen troops under the control of the sorcerer Velmar which will give me further small force to reinforce my borders, is disposable enough that if it is destroyed it will be of small moment, and it will keep Velmar away from the city so that he has no chance to instigate any plots.


After I got home though I realised I had been a dirty cheat. For some reason I thought temple guard were stubborn and the slann just granted them ITP (otherwise I would have taken 15 spear saurus). It didn’t make a big difference in the first battle but in the second spear saurus would have struggled to hold against the charge, even with his poor rolling the saurus would have been testing to hold on a 4 or 5 and would probably have broken and pursued. The spear saurus would still have flank charged the grail reliquae whereas the engine would have gone after the knights instead and would have got the charge against them the next round. I felt particularly dirty since it was Luke’s first game of warhammer. Since he doesn’t have a warhammer army at present but likes the idea of elves I’ve offered to bring my high elf army to the store for him to use next time, whilst I’m sure he will try to get me into 40K in some shape . Sun also suggested we start up mordheim again which would be cool and makes a nice swift game as well.

As for the army itself, I managed to test all the units I will be using in my main army (including the stubborn temple guard )and was very happy with the synergy of the lizardmen army, the army works together incredibly well and the short range firepower is remarkably good. The Engine of the gods is deadly against knights and the skink priest being able to challenge makes it very good as a knight tarpit- a challenge when charged means by the second round the lances have been lost and the stegadon is more or less invulnerable to attack (although it’s attacks barely caused any damage at all due to poor rollong). The priest does seem to have a fairly short lifespan though, although he was slightly unlucky with saves the in the first battle in a 2000 point battle a lord will likely do him in fairly reliably unless I give him a ward save of some kind. Still he has lasted long enough so far to get the job done. Heavens isn’t a great lore but as a level 3 he can actually manage to cast the comet if he gets it. The terradons performed their role excellently, although I was very lucky with the rocks in the second battle. Had they not failed their panic tests they would have supported the skinks in the archer combat and would have tipped the scales there. I only got one decent hit with the salamanders in either battle but the ability to cause panic tests was very useful indeed and it’s a tremendous utility unit. The spear saurus cause absolute butchery when the spears come into play although against bretts they will struggle to hold against the charge of a major bus unit or grail knights I think they can hold against a 9 man unit without the bsb/lord or 2 6 knight units which is plenty reliable for me. Frenzied chaos knights or blood knights can do them in comfortably of course but they can stop dragon princes well enough too so it's a great little unit.

Some lizardmen players have been slightly dubious about the new list since the “core” is M4 infantry but I think it works very well indeed, by the time combat is joined your support units have more or less done their jobs and are moving around the rear of the enemy army which has potentially lethal potential. The slower advance of the M4 blocks also means the faster skink skirmishers (or cohorts) have the time and speed to redirect anything you don’t want to get charged by. Also, although I know the maths of cold-bloodedness well, actually seeing it in battle was tremendous- wow it makes a huge difference. In a non-slann army I would say the bsb is the most important model in the whole army, opposing players should take it out if at all possible.

[Kerill]

Anyway, since my fluff has a new character, here is a piccie of him and his 2250 point concept force (skink and lobotomised human heavy with none of Aethrics most powerful units (spawn beasts and firewyrms) and relatively few saurus:

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...bum/velmar.jpg

Velmar, ensorcelled armour, staff of draining (truthsayer, if you aren’t familiar with them they have Ws4, S4,T4, W3, A2 and Ld9, a halberd, 4+ ward, level 3 mage with +1 to dispel and a mostly buff based lore). 265
Scar Vet, chaos armour (enchanted shield and light armour), bsb, GW, cursing eye (bane head) 151
Level 2 skink priest, diadem, scroll 150

18 Saurus spears, FC 246
12 Saurus spears, musician 150
10 skink skirmishers 70
10 skink skirmishers 70
16 skink cohort with one disc ogre (Krox), musician 141
16 skink cohort with one disc ogre (Krox), musician 141
16 skink cohort with one disc ogre (Krox), musician 141
Jungle swarm 45 points
Jungle swarm 45 points

Special:

3 Terradon riders 90
3 Terradon riders 90
6 Saurus cavalry with FC and banner of temporal displacement (Huanchi, +D6” charge)

Rare:

25 lobotomized humans with light armour, flails, shields and FC. Special rules: half a brain- at the start of each turn roll a D6, on a 1 they can’t do anything that turn. (These are DOW manbiters- Ws2, S3, T3, Ld6 since the squabble rule nicely ties in with the fluff of the lobotomised ones being drooling idiots). I’ll probably use zombies to represent them.

Not really a hard list but I don’t think it’s a pushover either if run well. Ld9 from velmar is a big boost and the skink cohorts are cheap manouverable +3 rank bonus that are both expendable and slightly dangerous to my opponent. Magic offence is weak at range although the buffing spells (or combined buffing spells- +1 to hit and re-roll 1s for example) can make a big difference to the saurus spears and saurus cavalry. Magic defence is very solid- up to 7DD with +1 to dispel and one scroll. The cavalry are there to give enemy cavalry units pause. The lobotomised humans can maybe do a bit of damage and have solid static CR but are there for fluff rather than utility reasons.

Total: 2250 points, 143 models!

Oh and the list of Khwar-Tzu and Dhaak-Fhor
(being of proven loyalty this force includes the rarer powerful beasts that Velmar is not trusted with).

Khwar-Tzu, chaos armour, sword of disruption, GW (maiming shield for 5A and hw+sh bonus for a 2+ save, venom of the firefly frog for magic poisoned attacks, light armour and a GW just in case S7 is needed). 136
Dhaak-For, bsb, great weaponchaos armour, charm of cursing (enchanted shield, light armour, bane head, GW, 1+ save and bane head to make enemy characters less eager to fight him) 151
Level 2 Skink priest (as yet unnamed), spell familiar, warpstone brazier, spawnbeast (Plaque of Tepoc, EOTG) 405
Level 2 skink priest (also unnamed) diadem, scroll 150

17 spear saurus, FC 234
16 spear saurus, FC 222
10 skink skirmishers 70
10 skink skirmishers 70
10 skink cohort 50


6 Saurus cavalry, FC, banner of huanchi 285
3 terradons 90
3 terradons 90

2 salamander hunting pack 150
18 norse marauders with flails. 144 (for fluff reasons to represent the remaining marauders not in the city)

Total: 2247 points, 7PD, 5-7DD, 106 models


I doubt I'll be using these lists for now although I may have velmar lead a 1000 point force for smaller battles, but when I get more used to the "main" list I'll use the forces under Aethric's two subcommanders more often and the 1500 point list will be a variant of Khwar-Tzus full force.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Great reports, but a few rules snippets:

Originally Posted by Kerill

The battles begin!

The grail reliquae failed to do any damage to the temple guard and lost 4 men in return but won due to the musician (he forgot his hatred re-rolls though) stubborn test was again passed on the re-roll.

Temple Guard are only stubborn if they have a Slann with them.

Quote

The terradons charge the trebuchet at the back. The saurus spears charge the grail reliquae (but only the bsb can get in combat and I forgot to use their spears).

Spears can't be used on the charge by infantry.

Other than that, great reports! I'm really liking the conversions you've done to your Chaotic Lizzies, and look forward to seeing more of them.

[Kerill]

I meant I forgot to use the spears the next round, not at all clear there

And yes I made a fair doozie of a mistake on the stubborn TG. Ah well. Nice to see your lizards have entered 7th edition Lonc, must be almost slann time

[SevenSins]

a nice rep, Kerill, even though you're a cheater
nice fluff too

[Arguleon-veq]

Great fluff and reports!.

I had planned on using Lizardmen models for my Tzeentch Daemons.

[blackjack]

Some of the best fluff I've read for an army. Way to go.


I personally use Flesh Hounds as Salamanders, I think they look more like Lizardmen models than Daemons...

[ScalySkin]

Loved it, can't wait for the next incursion to be reported!

[Kerill]

Thanks for the replies everyone (and the stamina for reading through that wall of text!) hopefully I'll get a bigger battle in this weekend. Was on a bit of a new army excitement painting drive this week so actually managed to paint and finish the terradons and Khwar-Tsu (didn't do a great job of sculpting kwar-tsu's taile though )