Cold blood

COLD BLOOD
Antanar looked out across the battlefield. Opposite his army stood the Lizardmen of Slann Mage Priest Quizitec. Rank upon rank of cold blooded saurus warriors and nimble skinks, blood-frenzied cold ones, leather-winged terradons, and venom-spitting salamanders. Amid the Lizardmen sat Quizitec on a throne of gold, being borne by his best bodyguard of Temple Guard. Antanar turned to his advisor Serpent. It was going to be a tough battle this morning.
FORCES
Antanars Border Patrol - A 2000 point High Elf army.
Prince Antanar - An elf prince riding in a chariot. Antanar wears heavy armour and carries a shield and longbow. He is armed with the battlespear Cloudcleaver (+1 Strength and D3 extra attacks when charging.)
Serpent - A level 2 mage of the lore of fire carrying a dispel scroll.
Ascarnil - A white lion commander on foot.
Aethenor - A mounted commander carrying the army banner.
7 Silver helm knights.
2 Tiranoc Chariots.
25 spearmen.
12 archers.
2 Great Eagles.
2 Bolt throwers.
10 archers.
6 Ellyrian reavers.

Quizitec's Warhost of Lizardman Defenders
Quizitec - A level 3 Slann of the lore of heaven, probably with some magic items.
A skink Shaman of the lore of heaven.
A skink hero on a cold one.
5 cold one riders.
Roughly 14 saurus warriors.
Roughly 14 more saurus.
Roughly 18 skink warriors with bows.
Roughly 18 more skinks with bows.
2 Salamanders.
1 Stegadon.
5 Terradons.

SET-UP
On the lizardmen's side of the battle were some ruins to the left, then, coming right, a fence, a watchtower, and a large hill. The terradons set up in the ruins, one skink unit behing the fence with the stegadon nearby, and another skink unit on the hill. The saurus regiments, the slann, and the cold ones were set up between the watchtower and the fences. One Salamander set up in the upper floors of the ruins, and the other was on the watchtower with the shaman. On the elven side of the battlefield was alowe hill and a swamp, then some walls, then another hill and an area of buildings. The archers set up on the hill and by the walls, with one of the bolt throwers. The silver helms set up by the swamp and Antanar and the chariots set up between the walls and the other hill. The other hill had the eagles and the other bolt thrower on it, and the reavers set up to the right of the buildings. The spearmen set up between the hill and the buildings, and the mage was with the archers behind the wall.
LET BATTLE COMMENCE
ELF TURN 1
The game started with the reavers declaring a charge on the skinks on the hill. The charge failed, and brave horsemen were left in the field of fire. The spearmen and the chariots advanced forward, and the silver helms slowed down so they could keep up. The eagles swooped over to the buildings, ready to aid the reavers if they needed it, and the archers on the far hill moved forward slightly to get into range. The rest of the archers, bolt throwers, and the mage stayed put. The magic started exceptionally well, with the mage destroying the salamander in the ruin with his conflagaration of doom (here I managed to roll a triple six)! They kept on burning, slaying two of the skink runners before the fire went out. The bolt throwers let rip, leaving one cold one rider and one saurus warrior lying on the ground with immense bolts protuding from their chests. The archers behind the wall fired at the Stegadon hoping to slay some of the skink crew, but all the shafts bounced harmlessly off the armoured beast's hide. The charioteers drew back their bowstrings and fired at the cold one riders, but failed to casue any damage.
LIZARDMAN TURN 1
The Lizardmen stayed put, hoping to charge the elves on the next turn. The skink shaman summoned his powers and cast the second sign of Amul. The elven mage stored his dispels for the big spell he knew was coming. The slann then cast the comet of Cassondora, but the elven mage succesfully dispelled it with his dispel scroll. With a few power dice left, the slann cast another second sign of Amul with a double six. The skinks on the hill opened fire at the oncoming reavers, but failed to do any damage. The skinks on the stegadon fired their great bow at the silver helms, but missed completely. The skinks behind the fences shot at the silver helms, only to find they were just out of range. The salamander in the tower spat forth his corrosive venom at the spearmen, burning to of them to death with disgusting acid.
ELF TURN 2
This time the reavers charge succeeded, and they smashed into the skinks with the help of the great eagles Stormtalon and Thunderwing. The Silver helms, chariots, and spearmen continued their constant march forward. The mage attempted to cast the Conflagaration of Doom again, obly to have it dispelled by the slann. Again, more saurus warriors and another cold one fell to the deadly shafts of death shot from the bolt throwers. The archers fired at the saurus, but their tough skin saved their lives. The other archers shot at the stegadon again, but to no effect. Once more the chariot's arrows caused no damage on the cold ones. In combat, the reavers skewered four skinks on their cavalry spears, and three more were torn limb from limb by the vicous great eagles. The skinks struck back, casuing no damage to the reavers, but leaving the eagle Thunderwing unable to fight for the rest of the battle. The lizardmen lost the combat, but held.
LIZARDMAN TURN 2
The turn started with the cold ones passing their stupidity test and charging the charioteers, and the saurus regiments advancing, protecting their master, the slann. Again the skink shaman cast the second sign of Amul. The comet of Cassandora is cast on the bolt thrower, and the slanns second sign is dispelled by the mage. The salamander spat at the spearmen, missing them and narrowly avoiding hitting the main combat between the chariots and cold ones. The terradon riders, stegadon crew and great bow, and the skinks behind the fences all fired at the silver helms, but amazingly not one of the proud elven knights was hurt. In combat, the skink hero damaged one of the chariots, but his followers caused no further damage. Antanar lashed out with his spear Cloudcleaver, leaving one cold one and its rider lying in their own cold blood. His followers fought with equal feroucity, killing four of the flesh eating monsters. The reavers and the remaining eagle Stormtalon slew four more skinks, but Stormatlon was slain by a curved dagger between the ribs. All the units held, with one chariot lapping around the surviving cold one rider.
ELF TURN 3
The comet above the bolt thrower expanded ready to crush them to a pulp if it landed. The silver helms charged one flank of the saurus regiments, and the spearmen, led by the white lion commander, charged the other. Aethenor the army standard bearer moved into range with his banner incase any of the elven units might break. The conflagaration of doom was dispelled by the slann, but the mage then cast fireball at the skinks, killing five of them. The bolt throwers let rip, wounding the salamander and the stegadon, and they were followed by the archers who slew a skink stegadon rider and four more skink warriors. Ascarnil smashed into the saurus's side with his woodsmans greataxe, decapicating five of the hulking beasts (white lion's axes cause D3 wounds per wounding hit). This left the spearmen in contact with no saurus, so they could not attack. The silver helms attemted to peirce the saurus left flank, but the reptilian warrior's high armour save got the better of them. Antanar lunged at the remaining cold one rider hero, cleaving him in half with his enchanted spear blade. The reavers failed to kill any skinks, and visa versa. However the saurus regiments lost the combat horribly. One unit fled off the board, but the other unit was not so quick and were cut down by the silver helms knights.
LIZARDMAN TURN 3
The comet landed, destroying one of the bolt throwers and half the archers. Despite this, the lizardman general could see no chance of reclaiming defeat, and lost his honour as he admitted defeat and crept back to lick his wounds.
VICTORY COMES AT A COST
The high elves had won the battle, but both eagles were slain, and so had a bolt thrower, along with the odd reaver knight, charioteer, spearman, and archer. But the lizardmen had suffered much greater losses, which lost them the battle in the end. This is the first battle i've actually fourght when i've destroyed all of David's saurus warriors, so I am proud of my victory. I think my opponent forgot about his terradons lurking behind the ruins, as if he used them propably it could of won him the battle. The same goes for his stegadon, who just never had a good enough chance to charge (even the silver helms happilt trotted past him at one point). But the medals have to go to my mage, who blasted a salamander (possibly the thing im most scared of, they can be devasting against silver helms and chariots) to smithereens on the first turn, and my commander who single handedly took on and anhialted five tough saurus warriors before they could strike back. This commander has won me many a battle. I recall one time when he destroyed a unit of dwarf crossbowmen, the cannon crew, and a unit of dwarf greatxes in just two turns (with a little help from his spearman bodyguard), and another time whe he challenged and cleaved the skull of a dwarf thane before the long beared fool could strike out with his hammer! When taking 2'000 points, my army can be very effective, but in smaller battles its another story...

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