So for starters, I do not recall exactly what the Lizardman player had in terms of characters, so I am giving my best recollection. Please excuse me, any Lizardmen players, if I make a mistake. Also, I do not remember what items his characters had. Sorry.
ARMIES-Lizardmen Army:~25 Saurus Warriors w/ Scar-Vet
~25 Saurus Warriors w/ Scar-vet
~20 Saurus Warriors w/ Old Blood
~6 Cold Ones
~6 Cold Ones
~10 Skinks (Blowguns) w/ Skink Chief
~lvl 2 Skink Priest (Harmonic Convergence; Chain Lightening)
And I forget who & where his BSB was, but I remember he had one.
Empire Army:~57 Swordsmen w/ Warrior Priest (Shield; H. Armor; Crown of Command)
~Detachment of 25 Halberdiers
~48 Great Swords w/ Warrior Priest (D.H. Weapon; H. Armor)
~Detachment of 24 Halberdiers
~12 Knights (No Command)
~5 Pistoliers (No Command)
~5 Pistoliers (No Command)
~Captain of the Empire (BSB; Plate; Holy Relic)
~ Arch Lector (War Alter; H. Armor; Shield; Dawnstone; VHS; Sword of Justice)
BATTLEFIELD-
SET UP-Lizardmen:The 3 Saurus units line up side-by-side in the center. The Skinks, with the mage, line up behind the middle and right Saurus units while the Cold ones line up in front of the battle formation.
Empire:Swordsmen line up on the far left with the detachment in the center; Great Swords line up just beside the forest with the detachment in the forest. Knights line up between the forest and far right hill while the Pistoliers line up on the far left, one behind the other. The AL with Alter are as centered as possible.
BATTLE-The Lizardman player sets up first and also gets to go first. The 1st turn is uneventful as his army advances. Magic is interesting as the Lizardman player rolls boxcars. I fail to dispell Chain Lightening on my Great Swords and lose 3, but it fails to jump to the detachment. I succeed in dispelling Harmonic Convergence however. On my turn, I attempt to charge both my Knights and Great Swords at his Calvary on the right-side, I didn't expect the Great Swords to make it, but I did expect my Knights to make it to his flank. They fail and end up blocking my detachment in the woods. My magic phase I get Birona's Timewarp off on the Greatswords, expecting to eat a charge from his Cold One Knights. Shooting phases I moved one unit of Pistoliers onto the left hill & do some serious damage to his left flank of Cold One Knights, killing 3 out of 6 while the other unit of Pistoliers moves behind the hill to harass his far-left unit of Saurus, but I am JUST out of range, even with having the free 12" movement in the beginning.
Turn 2: As expected, both his Cold One Units charge. The 3-man unit on the left charges past my Swordsmen Horde right into the detachment while the full-strength unit on the right goes right into my Great Swords. Because my detachment is blocked by the failed Knight charge, no supporting charge can be had and I start to get down on myself about how this will work. The Skinks move to face the oncoming Knights, as I'm sure he expects them to get hit next should his Saurus break, while the left flank Saurus turn to face the Pistoliers. Magic is uneventful for him as I dispell everything. Hand-to-hand is brutal on the right flank. Because Birona's is still in effect my
I is better and I slaughter his Cold Ones, who run and get cut down in pursuit. The left flank holds as I lose an entire back rank (6 men), and I fail to cause a wound. I lose in combat, but because I outnumber him, I stand firm thanks to Steadfast. My Turn see's my Arch Lector charge the flank of the remaining Cold One Knights. My Great Swords succeed in charging the Saurus Warriors moving down the middle, who just marched off the center hill, while the detachment moves from the forest. My Knights also get their charge off into the unit of Saurus Warriors on the right flank. My Pistoliers move to both flanks of the Saurus Warriors on the left. Magic is uneventful as he dispells everything I throw out. The Swordsmen advance forward in an attempt to meet the left flank Saurus unit. Shooting is also weak as I kill one Saurus Warrior and one Skink Blow-gunner. Hand-to-hand again see's me break another unit as my Knights smash his Saurus and chase them down, losing only one Knight; they are now positioned on the center hill behind his lines, and facing the rear of his left flank Saurus unit. The Arch Lector smashes the rest of the Cold Ones and they too flee, being chased down by the Halberdier detachment. The Arch Lector holds and reforms. My Unit Champion in the Great Swords survives a challenge from Old Blood and fights another turn! My Great Swords win in combat, barely & because of static combat res., against his Saurus, but he stands firm! What turned out to be distressing first round is now fully in my favor it would seem!
TURN 3: He reforms his left Saurus flank to face the knights and moves the Skinks from behind the center Saurus Unit, facing the Great Sword Halberdier Detachment. Again, magic is uneventful and remains so until the very last magic phase. He shoots his Skinks at my Halberdiers, but fails to kill any, and he manages to win in combat against my Great Swords, but they stand firm! However, the Unit Champion is slain this time by the Old Blood. My turn see's my Knights charge his left Saurus flank and see's the Great Sword Detachment fail it's charge of the Skinks, who opt to stand firm instead of stand & shoot. Pistolier up top holds while the one on the hill moves into close range to fire at Skinks, who kills none. Combat ends in a draw this time, but my Great Swords are being whittled down. While my armor saving is helping as his sheer number of attacks is picking off 3-4 a turn on average, while
his armor saving is amazing; I have never seen so many 6-up shield ward saves in one game in my life. It becomes quite frustrating. Sadly my Knights fail me this time, or should I say I failed them. I did little damage to his Saurus, killing a puny 2 lizards, while he manages to get 6, yes SIX, Knights. He struck 8 wounds and I needed a 2+ to save them all, so what do I roll ... six 1's. I break in combat and get chased down on the other side of that center hill.
TURN 4: He reforms his Saurus to face the Pistoliers, who are now on the other side of the board. His Skinks turn to face my 2nd Pistolier unit, who is now 2 inches away and fire, killing 2, but they stand tall and proud! Combat is his against my Great Swords but I stand in place. My turn comes and my Halberdiers take advantage of his Skink's exposed rear and make the charge! They break in combat and are chased down after losing 6 of their 10. Both Pistolier units move to the flanks of the Saurus Unit not in combat and continue to harass it, and manage to kill 1 lizard. Combat with my Great Swords see's victory mine but he stands firm. By now I am getting a bit upset that 25 Saurus are holding up a horde of Great Swords. My continued failure to get off Birona's and Soul Fire is mostly the root cause of this, that and my piss-poor dice rolling versus his amazing dice rolling.
TURN 5: This is to be the final turn as he moves his Saurus to face the 3-man Pistolier unit. Combat is a tie against my Great Swords. By now my Swordsmen and it's Detachment are on the other side of the hill and facing the Saurus ready for action. Because of the combat going on in the center, the Swordsmen were forced to travel over the hill, halving their movement each turn. Finally I am vindicated as I get a Soulfire off with Irresistible Force, and roll a further 6 for number of wounds. I cause 5 and he loses 5, leaving command, the Old Blood and 3 Saurus Warriors. Combat finds that even with that, it is a draw, though I do manage to kill the last 3 Saurus Warriors. My opponent calls the game on account that his wife showed up and was pissed he was running so late coming home.
The Army of Stirland is victorious!!
I'm sorry if any of this was unclear. It is 0515 here and I've been enjoying many a bottle of Hard Cider. I hope you enjoyed and next time I will try for a better battle report.
