I didn't have a chance to write reports for rounds 4-5, but here is the battle report for the sixth and final round from Social Distancing, a 130 person team tournament organized by the US ETC team and played on Universal Battle 2.
After a solid performance in rounds 1-3 (including a cap on round 3), our team had a rough go with rounds 4-5 which dropped us well down the rankings. You would hope this would mean easier competition, but unfortunately there is no easy competition in this tournament!
We got ranked against "Homebound Homies," a team from the Netherlands. I was paired against Rik with his interesting random mover WDG.
List:
890 - Sorcerer, General, Veil Walker, Battleshrine, Wizard Master, Evocation, Plate Armour (Gladiator's Spirit), Paired Weapons, Magical Heirloom, Lord of the Damned
606 - 17 Warriors, Sloth, Standard Bearer, Musician, Champion
325 - 10 Warriors, Lust, Standard Bearer (Banner of the Relentless Company), Champion
480 - 6 Wretched Ones
478 - 6 Forsworn, Great Weapon, Damnation, Musician
478 - 6 Forsworn, Great Weapon, Damnation, Musician
480 - 6 Wretched Ones
380 - Forsaken One
380 - Forsaken One
Strategy:
This was a "good" matchup for me, so I wanted to capitalize and get some points. In particular, he is limited on range damage so I will play wide with the skinks to help with scoring, rather than cornering around the cuatl. I "won" tableside so put my objective on the far left, behind the building. He did likewise on the far right side. I am happy with this as I feel I have the scoring/mobility advantage.
The general plan is to use pyromancy to weaken his wretched/forsaken ones and then finish them with my characters/taurosaurs who should be very resilient with their armour saves. The characters can really fight anything in this list without hesitation.
The skink's poison should only be used as last resort to finish weakened units, as they cannot flee the random movers when they get close.
If his general gives an opportunity, the taurosaurs will shoot their bolt throwers at him but I suspect they will be too busy stomping wretched ones.
His big block of resilience 5 warriors and shrine will be tough to fight, so I will likely avoid it unless a bolt thrower can sneak a few wounds on it. This is a big chunk of points to forgo, but I think I can kill the wretched/forsaken ones and secondary without taking significant losses. I really don't want to get the taurosaurs stuck in fighting a steadfast R5 block with evocation magic support while they get flanked by his random movers.
The WDG drop for first. He deploys the forsworn and shrine centrally, and the random movers on each flank. I counter each flank with a taurosaur to prevent him moving forwards on the first turn, with skinks behind to score later. As deployment was counterthrust (always annoying), I put down the chamelons on the back board edge to draw out his drops first. Their loss is ok, as I wasn't planning on shooting early with them. I put the rest of the army on a hill in my deployment zone. With the forsworn in the middle, I'm comfortable in winning secondary at this stage, and if he presses in the middle I will retreat behind the hill. The pteradons vanguard behind the impassible to clear a path for taurosaur.
Picture after deployment, before vanguard pteradons
T1 WDG
His random movers use the impassible terrain very well to prevent moving forwards. However, the wretched ones on the right roll high and move too far, leaving me with a 6" charge with the taurosaur. The forsworn/shrine stay in the woods and drop a comet on the SA as the dispelling focuses on stopping touch of the reaper on the warlord.
T1 SA
The right taurosaur charges the wretched ones... but misses the 6 required. The pteradons bravely fly up to block for him, putting three wounds on the wretched ones as they go. The right forsaken one has also gotten very close, so the chamelons on that side go after him. Magic focuses on the right forsaken one... but fails to wound at all. The chamelons do better and put three on him and get ready to get smashed in return by the angry monster. Comet comes down and wounds a few skinks and saurus but the engine's aegis keeps them mostly intact.
Picture at start of T2, as right forsaken one charges
T2 WDG
The right wretched ones charge the blocking pteradons and kill them but the brave birds take a second wretched one with them before they go! The right forsaken one makes his 12" charge, and hits the chamelons. Embarrassingly he takes a return wound from the little guys, and fails to kill the entire unit (2 remain) and fails to chase them down. As they started at 7, they are well positioned to rally next turn. The center units remained in the middle of the board. Magic results in another comet as the SA focus on dispelling reaper again.
T2 SA
The right taurosaur makes his second charge attempt against the wretched ones. He needed a 3... and made a... 3! Cries of, "do I have to do, Dad?" could be heard through the screen.
The left taurosaur continued his game of cat and mouse around the building with his wretched ones and forsaken one. Not trusting in luck again (and the engine), this time units tried to escape the second comet. Unfortunately, it didn't help as it rolled an 11 for range and put 2 wounds on the taurosaur and wiped out a rank of saurus. The skinks behind the hill just avoid it, and are preparing for their scoring run on the left objective. Previous games have taught me to plan early as skinks are fast... but not that fast.
Magic focuses on cascading fire and flaming weapons to help out the fighting taurosaur but both spells are dispelled. After a second ineffective magic phase, the grasp cuatl is suitably embarrassed for wasting everyone's time and being significantly out-gunned by a lowly chaos wizard.
Shooting brings down the right forsaken one. Combat is discouraging without the hoped for magic support. The taurosaur does 10 wounds between impact hits and regular attacks, and all but 4 bounce off their 5+ fortitude. He takes one in return.
Picture at the start of T3
T3 WDG
The left warriors charge the taurosaur. There was no way for him to avoid the flank charge, but the intent was to limit their frontage to just 1 attacking model with the reform. As it was, I forgot to reform however luck helped as coincidentally, only 2 could strike after closing the door.
The center units now move up to the wall in the middle of the board. Magic focuses on augmenting the warriors. Whispers of the veil is dispelled, but a boosted spectral blades goes through on them.
In combat, the augmented warriors put 3 wounds on the taurosaur. Things don't look good... but then the lizardmen are saved by a big dinosaur foot which stomps 6 of them to the ground. The warriors reform to have full contact next round.
T3 SA
The saurus use their relentless banner and propel their brave leader 15" upwards to chaff the warrior advance. Nobody wants to fight an angry lizard with the Glory of the Dawn Age!
The left taurosaur continues hiding around the building. He shoots at the forsworn for lack of a target (the shrine has soft cover hiding behind them) and does 4 wounds with a solid bolt thrower hit and javelins.
Magic is again... un-impressive. I learned flaming swords only has 18 range, not 24 so the taurosaur on the right was always out of range. For lack of other targets, the cuatl tries to blast the forsworn but can't beat their armour save.
In combat, the grind continues as the right taurosaur wears down the wretched ones, but takes 2 from the remaining augmented warriors (1 left) before he proceeds to stomp them into oblivion. For record keeping, he did six wounds with the stomp... again. Skinks on both sides start their scoring runs. The ones on the right are hampered by lack of a musician, and the caimen BSB leaves his unit to help them out in later turns.
Picture at the top of round 4
T4 WDG
The remaining wretched/forsaken ones now split across the top of the house and prepare to rush down. The forsworn elect not to charge the warlord (who would?) and back up, with the shrine's unit to cover them. The right forsworn start moving towards the right objective. This warrior's magic phase is unlucky as a 4-dice hellfire on the taurosaur fails to go through, and a touch of the reaper is dispelled. Spectral blades goes through on the forsworn, preventing a charge from the warlord next turn.
In combat, the wretched ones finally finish off the taurosaur with 1 model remaining. I don't know how many fortitude saves were passed to get here, it was a lot!
T4 SA
The warlord ignores the forsworn and runs to the right, chasing after the forsworn.
The left taurosaur remains where it is for another turn, safe from charges, but covering the middle to prevent the central units moving. The engine moves off its hill to provide cover from the wretched ones but unfortunately, I measure poorly (oh, the "blue" line is what I want...) and don't get it close enough to the taurosaur for the aegis save.
On the right, the caimen BSB and skinks join up. Another units of skinks start to walk over in case the forsworn make it to the objective, and the cuatl joins the saurus for protection.
The SA magic phase stars to pick up a bit of steam, and puts 4 wounds on the left forsaken, and a couple on the wretched ones (casting fireball through engine).
Picture at start of T5
T5 WDG
The left wretched ones and forsaken one now rush down the left side of the building. The right forsworn moves closer to the objective, but was out of line of sight to charge. Magic punishes the taurosaur that was out of range of aegis, and puts 3 wounds on it (1 left) with a boosted hellfire. Touch of the reaper is dispelled again.
T5 SA
The caimen BSB charges out against the forsworn to block them from reaching the objective. He whiffs a bit and does 2 wounds, taking 2 in return. Two units of skinks are behind him, ready to score. The first unit finishes off the remaining wretched one with javelins. The warlord runs as fast as he can towards the right to help (8" is slooow).
The slowly steaming SA magic phase finally blows up! Pyromancy (casting through engine) puts 13 or 14 wounds on the wretched ones and the chameleons add a few more. They were just out of range of the forsaken one so couldn't shoot him - the taurosaur tried but failed. There is only 1 wretched one remaining, with a single wound on him. The engine and the skinks behind are situated so as to prevent over-runs should the wretched/forsaken ones combo charge either target.
Picture at top of T6
T6 WDG
The last wretched one charges the chameleon skinks but is killed in combat! The forsaken one does even worse, and fails to reach the wounded taurosaur. In magic, spectral blades is dispelled but whispers of the veil goes through on the forsworn. The caimen BSB does better this time and does 3 wounds and takes another one in return (2 left).
T6 SA
Momentum is entirely on the lizardmen side and this looks like a big turn! The warlord decides to put a pin in that... and fails to make a 4" charge to save his caimen buddy. The caimen succumbs to his whispers weakness and is beaten down by the forsworn. This was somewhat disappointing, as I was confident the warlord could kill 2 models, significantly reducing the return attacks and allowing the BSB to live.
On the left shooting finishes the last forsaken one. There are no good targets for magic as pyromancy bounces off the forsworn's armour.
Final result 15-5.
Ending thoughts:
After the game, Rik mentioned he was reluctant to push the middle in case the warlord and BSB teamed up and pushed up. This is certainly true in that their armour can't be countered by anything other than magic, but he has so many combat threats, they (and the taurosaurs) are needed all over the board which is why I elected to push the flanks instead. However, always interesting to hear a different perspective for thoughts how to play it differently. As poison is not a good first tool, I could have put the cuatl on a flank for magic damage, and pushed in the middle with characters. Certainly pushing against his general would have made a big win easier. I think a big win was still within grasp, despite ignoring his general, but I needed a single charge to go well. My charge rolls through the game - 4 (swiftstride), 3 (swiftstride), 5 (caimen), 3 (warlord) - it's tough to get big points with that.
Magic, with the exception of one HUGE phase, was very disappointing. I picked this matchup specifically to pit pyromancy versus his wretched/forsaken ones. Fortunately, the taurosaur's big foot twice pulled the lizards back into the fight.
Scoring was my big issue on previous rounds so I was pleased it worked better. I was certainly helped in that there wasn't much ranged pressure, so I could play wide out of the leadership bubble.
The warlord hasn't been amazing in this tournament. He has fought only twice. In the first round against equitaine he whiffed and was ran down on CR. In the third against ID, he had his one great game and arguably won the game single handedly with his saurus buddies. However, in that round his tanky armour and MW were not factors, it was the general saurus stats and the +2 armour spell that helped. In the four other rounds, his slowness has prevented him from picking his fights and he has been easily avoided, or attacked. I like the concept of the model (1+ rerollable plus MW2 is very powerful in theory) but I think he will be dropped from the next list iteration for more (cheaper) caimen ancients or a raptor mounted version.