This was the other matchup I wasn’t looking forward to. I normally like playing Lizards with my Skaven but Mike and I played this particular matchup a couple of weeks ago and it ended in disaster.
Why? Cupped Hands.
The inclusion of the Power Scroll in my list meant that I had lost the Earthing Rod for miscast protection. This meant that I was very vulnerable to losing the Seer to a Dimensional Cascade passed onto me by the Slaan. It then becomes a 50/50 chance that I lose my prime rat. This had happened previously and I was determined to minimise the chance of it happening again.
I knew Mike would look to six dice a spell each turn to generate a miscast so decisive action was needed. Mike also had Becalming which meant my 6s were to be discarded. Mike did not deploy his Slaan in a Saurus block and that proved to be a real mistake. I appreciate he was worried about me targeting the combined unit with magic then shooting but I felt the Slaan needed the protection. I drew out his dice with a Plague then popped the power scroll and my warpstone token. I required 9 on three dice with no sixes and was able to achieve that.
Zappp!
On the same turn my WLC killed the Skink Priest leaving Mike with no magic protection. The rest of the game involved me feeding the Lizards chaff – Slaves and Engineers – while I went after his points. I collected a total of 1793 VPs from Saurus, Salamanders and Skinks as well as the magic users. In an eic struggle a unit of Slaves reduced the Ancient Steg to one wound before succumbing to the Stomp.
In what I can only describe as an extremely petty act of vindictiveness, Mike sent out units to hunt down the newly evolved Slaan and killed him as he ran to the welcoming arms of his new family.
Win 16-4 (1793 VPs earned)
Game 4 – Tom Dunn (Daemons of Chaos) – Meeting Engagement
I fancied my chances in this game but was less impressed with the scenario. The Skaven tend to dominate Daemons and I knew with the Ruin deck and my shooting I had enough to trouble Tom’s particular set up – GUO, two Bloodletter blocks with Flaming Heralds, Tzeentch Herald in Horrors, Furies plus Fiend/Bloodcrusher chaff.
Tom set up first but had a Bloodletter block off the table along with two Crushers. I stole the initative and was able to take out a unit of Furies before he could get them away.
However the key moment came in Tom’s first Magic Phase. He rolled 6 dice for his Winds of Magic then picked them up and irresistibly cast Final Transmutation on my Bell unit.
Seer…….6!
Bell…..6!
Ooooooow Look! Shiny!!!!
Oh dear. And how the crowd’s rejoiced in my misfortune. I’m pretty sure that they misunderstood the situation and didn’t realise that it had happened TO me.
Now staring a 20-0 in the face, I mounted a rearguard action against the Daemons. I worked out that I was limited in what points I could get so focussed my efforts on maximising the. Over the course of the game I got all Tom’s chaff, the Horrors and then focussed my warmachine shooting and magic on a single Bloodletter block. I was helped by the fact that I was passing a lot of Leadership 7-8 tests as Tom moved the GUO forward to terrorise me. The Tzeentch Herald exploded Turn 4 giving me the opportunity to work over the Horrors. When I managed to reduce a Bloodletter block below 5 RnF I sniped the Khorne Herald with the WLC allowing my Stormvermin to finish them off.
I almost snagged an unlikely win when the remnants of the Bell unit charged the GUO and Tom rolled low for Thunderstomp. I inflicted 4 wounds but from there normal service was resumed and the Clanrats were eventually broken.
Given the start I thought I played a really good game especially as Tom kept the pressure on me throughout. I resisted throwing my HPA into the fray given the presence of Khorne Heralds and instead he picked up Furies and Fiends where he could. I was proud that I kept the difference to 357 VPs.
Loss 8-12 (1276 VPs earned)
So four rounds gone and I’m 2-2 and on 42/80 Battle Points. I’ve got a lot of work to do.
Final two rounds to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment