Game 2 of WOOD ELVES vs. LIZARDMEN series ongoing - 1500 points.
Last Thursday, jberrysf and I were able to play the second game in our ongoing series of 1500 point learning games. Here's a brief "battle summary." jberrysf - feel free to chime in if I get anything wrong.
Lists
Lizardmen:
Slann General (Lore of High Magic), Ethereal Discipline
Skink Priest (Lore of Beasts)
20 Saurus w/Full Command
20 Skink Cohort w/Full Command
20 Skink Skirmishers w/Full Command
10 Cold One Cavalry
Salamander w/Extra Skink
Stegadon
Wood Elves
Spellweaver lv 4 w/Wand of Wych Elm, Resplendence of Luminescence, Longbow
BSB Noble w/Hail of the Doom Arrow, Asyendil's Bane, Battle Standard Bearer, Light Armor, Dragonhelm
15 Winter Glade Guard w/Musician
10 Summer Glade Guard w/Musician
8 Dryads
5 Wardancers
3 Treekin
Great Eagle
Treeman
Deployment
Jacob definitely won the deployment game. I allowed a building Jacob had placed in the middle front of my deployment zone to split my army - actually, I should have just sucked it up and deployed on one side or the other. As a result - as you will see - Jacob was able to play games with me, kiting my units back and forth across the field. He was able to pit each half of his army against whichever half of my army he chose. However, as you will also see, the raw power of Lustria was able to hold its own against Athel Loren's trickery.
Other important elements of deployment were that my Slann and my Skink priest were on opposite ends of the battlefield - the Slann floating ethereally near my Skinks, the priest hanging out with the Saurus infantry block.
Lizardmen got first.
Turn One
Lizardmen: mostly march into position, with the Skinks taking up residence behind cover and in some lakes placed on my left flank. Some of my skirmishers - who can march and shoot - take pot shots with no result. No appreciable spellcasting, and we're far too far apart for combat.
Wood Elves: More of the same, except that the shooting is marginally more effective.
Turn Two
Lizardmen: More advancing and maneuvering. My skinks shoot, but it's largely ineffective. Thanks to a well-placed Hand of Glory, my stegadon shoots at the treekin and kills one of them. I - quite smartly, I think, opt not to forget Hand of Glory. I do, however, kill off a few archers with the High Magic magic missile spell and chose to forget it, learning the Lore of Life spell Flesh to Stone. The cold one cavalry attempts to charge the wardancers, but fails and merely ambles forward a few inches.
Wood Elves: The most striking thing Jacob did in this turn was fly his giant eagle behind my lines, directly between the Saurus warriors and the stegadon. This was a move calculated to distract me, and it worked. As you will see in the following turns, I spent a lot of time maneuvering back and forth, trying to make sure that I didn't take an eagle to the general.
Turn Three
Lizardmen: My right flank - scared to death by that freaking eagle - maneuvered around so as to not take a flank strike. The rest of my army advanced - except for my skirmishers, who shot ineffectively - and my Skinks charged into his dryads. Much more interesting was the long-range charge that my cold one riders made, charging across the battlefield to slam into the wardancers, who they eliminated in a single turn of combat. They then continued their charge and slammed into the treekin. I tried to magic missile the eagle to death, failed to kill it, and decided that since I was likely going to take an eagle to the face soon, I'd be better off with some spells to enhance my durability and traded the High Magic spirit-sucking spell for a Life Magic spell, ending up with Flesh to Stone. Luckily, on my shooting phase, my stegadon (enhanced by Hand of Glory) was able to bring the eagle down.
Wood Elves: For me, the most striking part of my opponent's turn was that my cold one riders continued their vicious charge, cutting down jberrysf's treekin and closing in on one of his squads of archers! The pansy elves turned and ran, and my luck at dice finally failed and my cavalry failed to catch them. For Jacob, the highlight was probably when his dryads finished demolishing my poor, decimated Skinks and charged at my Slann. With their magical attacks - capable of cutting through his Ethereal state - it was looking bad for the Lizardmen! He also charged his treeman into a protracted combat with my Saurus, effectively keeping them out of the main fight... forever.
Turn Four
Lizardmen: Luckily, I'd had the presence of mind to swap out some High Magic for some durability-enhancing Life Magic. I cast Flesh to Stone, enhancing my Slann's durability to the point that I no longer feared for his safety. In fact, the dryads would fail to harm my Slann for the rest of the game. The rest of my turn involved my cold one cavalry turning around to face the battle, my stegadon setting itself up to charge into that same combat and come to the rescue, and my Saurus continuing to be ground away, model by model, by the treeman. An important note is that I chose to forget another High Magic spell - I think I finally chose to lose Hand of Glory, but I can't remember anymore - and grab a spell from the Lore of Shadow, because the Lore of Shadow's attribute would allow my Slann to swap places with my Skink priest and escape this miserable combat.
Wood Elves: Jacob's warlord forgot the principle rule of being an evil overlord - don't turn into a giant snake, it never helps. In his case, though, it was a giant dragon that he turned into, using the Transformation of Khadon spell. Having turned into a dragon, he flew over and flamed out all over my poor Skink skirmishers, finally eliminating them. Other various combats continued to grind away. We both knew that the endgame was rapidly approaching.
Turn Five
Lizardmen: My turn was a doozy! 1) my lizardmen charged his warlord, beating him in combat and failing to catch him because he fled behind a squad of archers. 2) my Slann successful cast a Shadow spell and traded places with the Skink priest. 3) My stegadon charged into combat with the dryads, killing several.
Wood Elves: Things continued to deteriorate for Jacob on this turn. His general managed to get out of the way, but his archers - including his BSB - were swept away by the advancing cavalry. He began to maneuver some of his other models in an effort to get on my Slann in his new position... but we both knew it was all over but the dying.
Turn Six
Lizardmen: Just for show, my Slann used Walk Between Worlds to teleport my cavalry into position to charge Jacob's treeman in the rear. My stegadon finished off Jacob's dryads, but final squad of archers managed to run away.
Wood Elves: Jacob got his archers and general-turned-dragon onto my Slann and successful caused him to flee, but he managed to roll very well (while Jacob rolled poorly) and escaped.
Robbed of his final opportunity to earn any more points, Jacob agreed that the game had ended on the last turn.
Final Score: Victory for the Lizardmen! 524 to 466
