Last night I had a game of Warhammer against Vinny's undead lead by Ye Olde Nagash. Since Games Workshop's
8th Edition update all games are now End of Times, so I thought I'd use the opportunity to have 2 Slann Mage priests in a 2400 point army. This battle report needs some credits as this is very much a collaboration. Cheers to Stuart for his meticulous note taking (
I will put his actual quotes in red for reference) Thanks also to Vinny who has sent me his army list and also showed up to kill a lot of Lizardmen. Lastly thanks to Phil for providing his home for the game as well as hexing some of my more pivotal dice rolls. Thank you one and all.
The Rosters
Vinny's Undead Legion
Lords (1000pts)
- Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead (1000pts)
Arch-Necromancer, Death Magic Incarnate, Large Target, Supreme Lord of the Undead, Terror, Undead
Alakanash, the Staff of Power, Lore of Undeath, Morikhane, the Black Armour, The Nine Books of Nagash, Wizard Level 5, Zefet-nebtar, the Mortis Blade
Heroes (206pts)
- Vampire (206pts)
The Hunger, Undead, Vampiric
Hand Weapon, Heavy Armour (4pts), Lore of the Vampires, Master Strike (15pts) (*), Quickblood (30pts) (*), Shield (2pts), Wizard Level 1
Core (600pts)
- Crypt Ghouls (200pts)
Poisoned Attacks, Undead
20x Crypt Ghoul (200pts)
- Dire Wolves (40pts)
Slavering Charge, Swiftstride, Undead, Vanguard (FAQ'ed)
5x Dire Wolf (40pts)
- Dire Wolves (40pts)
Slavering Charge, Swiftstride, Undead, Vanguard (FAQ'ed)
5x Dire Wolf (40pts)
- Skeleton Warriors (Vampire Counts) (130pts)
Undead
Musician (10pts), Skeleton Champion (10pts), Standard Bearer (10pts)
- Skeleton Warriors (Vampire Counts) (130pts)
Undead
Musician (10pts), Skeleton Champion (10pts), Standard Bearer (10pts)
- Zombies (60pts)
Always Strikes Last, The Newly Dead (AB-34), Undead
20x Zombie (60pts)
Rare (250pts)
- Terrorgheist (250pts)
Fly, Large Target, Regeneration (6+), Terror, Thunderstomp, Undead
Death Shriek (*), Infested (10pts) (*), Rancid Maw (15pts) (*)
Special (340pts)
- Grave Guard (250pts)
Killing Blow, Undead
Musician (10pts), Seneschal (10pts), Standard Bearer (10pts)
- Spirit Host (45pts)
Ethereal, Skirmishers (FAQ'ed), Undead
Hand Weapons, Spirt Host (45pts)
- Spirit Host (45pts)
Ethereal, Skirmishers (FAQ'ed), Undead
Hand Weapons, Spirt Host (45pts)
Jason's Semi Undead Lizardmen
Lords (795pts)
- Lord Kroak (400pts)
Cold-Blooded, Eternity Guardians, Fear, First Generation Spawning, Flammable, Mage-Priest Palanquin, Magic, Supreme Shield of the Old Ones, The Spirit of Lord Kroak, Unbreakable
AB - Golden Death Mask, Wizard Level 4
- Slann Mage-Priest (395pts)
Cold-Blooded, Mage-Priest Palanquin, Shield of the Old Ones, Telepathic Confabulation
Lore of High Magic, Wizard Level 4
Heroes (625pts)
- Saurus Scar-Veteran (149pts)
Cold-Blooded, Predatory Fighter, Scaly Skin (*)
Battle Standard Bearer (25pts), Shield (4pts)
- Skink Chief (346pts)
Aquatic, Cold-Blooded, Scaly Skin (*)
Light Armour (2pts), Lustrian Javelin (2pts), Shield (2pts)
- Skink Priest (130pts)
Aquatic, Arcane Vassal, Cold-Blooded, Scaly Skin (*)
Lore of Heavens, Wizard Level 2 (35pts)
Core (750pts)
- Saurus Warriors (360pts)
Champion (10pts), Musician (10pts), 30x Saurus Warrior (330pts) (Cold-Blooded, Predatory Fighter, Scaly Skin (*)), Standard Bearer (10pts)
- Saurus Warriors (250pts)
Champion (10pts), Musician (10pts), Standard Bearer (10pts)
- Skink Skirmishers (70pts)
- Skink Skirmishers (70pts)
Rare (80pts)
- Salamander Hunting Pack (80pts)
- Salamander Hunting Pack (80pts)
Aquatic, Cold-Blooded, Hunting Pack, Skirmishers (FAQ'ed)
3x Handlers, Salamander (Spout Flames, Stomp, Swiftstride, Fear, Scaly Skin (*))
Special (150pts)
- Bastiladon (150pts)
Bastiladon (Impervious Defense, Thunderous Bludgeon, Always Strikes Last, Howdah Crew, Cold-Blooded, Large Target, Scaly Skin (*), Thunderstomp, Terror)
- Crew with Solar Engine
Solar Engine
3x Crew
The Plan
 |
| What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster? |
The forces of Undeath got first turn after there was a dearth of vanguarding. They shambled forward (as only zombies can). The magic phase was eventful as Nagash cast Hellish vigour irresistably! Rerolled his miscast (Vinny didn't like it much) and got a 7. Nagash then performed what seemed to me to be a very dodgy palming of power dice into his incredibly annoying staff. Shooting was non existant so the Undead turn ended with no Lizardmen casualties!
I decided that my saurus blocks weren't going to move forward (like a cowardly dwarf) as I had magical death to deal! Winds of magic gave me 6 dice, a 5 & a 1 so I went about blasting the undead. The Bastiladon was the first to fail - I only rolled one dice at it - and that was a two. Then I tried Arcane Unforging on the Vampire - this also failed. With my remaining dice I tried Deliverance of Itza - FAIL! This was going to be a feature of the game. My total shooting killed 2 Grave Guard & 2 Skinks who presumably looked pretty appetising to the Salamander. On balance a pretty small amount of carnage.
 |
| Nagashs first cast spell! |
Turn Two
I think I was sold a lemon with regard to undead. I was of the impression that they were slow moving and generally not very outmaneuvery. Probably due to Nagash's large target - inspiring presense quite a lot of the undead were able to march, not, in my opinion a particularly great thing. So the ghouls charge my idiotically placed skink priest who legs it so they redirect into the Salamander instead. The Grave Guard charge a unit of skinks and fail to make it, losing two to blowpipe darts. Nagash then moves to get within inspiring presence of the Terrorgheist and Wolf pack. Nagash then casts
Speed of Light on the ghouls and kills two saurus with
Shem's Burning Gaze. Combat saw the ever-so speedy ghouls slay my beautiful salamander. The ghouls weren't that fast as they didn't manage to catch the fleeing handlers!
 |
| Two fleeing skinks |
My turn saw a mini exodus of skinks from the ghouly side of the table (priest included). I got a bit proactive with my stegadon and spear armed saurus and charged the skeleton unit. I rolled a 5 + 5 magic phase which saw
Hand of Glory and Deliverance of Itza dispelled (twice for deliverance and one of those on a 23!) effectively ruining my magic phase. Three grave Guard were blowpiped back to death, as were two skeletons. Combat was enjoyably one-sided as the saurus and stegadon steamrollered the skeleton unit back to the grave.
 |
| skeletons get what for |
Turn Three
The undead started this turn with lots of charges. Five undead hounds charged the skink skirmishers (the brave skinks killed one with their stand and shoot), One spirit host charged the unit containing Lord Kroak whilst the other charged my Bastiladon (this was very important/frustrating). The grave guard charged another unit of skink skirmishers whilst the terrorgheist charges my other block of saurus. The winds of magic blew strong this phase (6 and 4). Spirit Leech killed my beautiful (on the inside anyway) stegadon leaving a rather surprised skink chieftain sitting on a large pile of steaming dinosaur burger. The terrorgheist screams two saurus to death. close combat saw the skinks defeat then reform around the wolves, one spirit host evaporates to static death by Gold Sigil Sword and combat res, whilst the other fails to damage my Bastiladon, and he fails to find a magic weapon out of his howdah to damage it back. The grave guard skink fight on the other side didn't go so well with Vampire & Co reducing them to a Damien Hirst piece of artwork.
My now Stegadonless cheiftain charged the terrorgheist in the flank, or at least he would've done but for a crap terror test. In the magic phase Deliverance of Itza did not get cast, rolled 1 and 2 for power dice. Close combat saw my rock hard skink skirmishers on the left flank kill the last wolf, the Bastiladon/Spirit host was a stalemate (Spirit Host and Bast flail) and the Saurus/Terrorgheist combat saw the Saurus win by 4 only to have Nagash save him.
Turn Four
Vinny's undead made little groaning noises as they charged (as they do in the Walking Dead). A unit of zombies charged my wolf killing skinks, the unit of skeletons and grave guard charged my saurus fighting the terrorgheist. The only plus point of this was the skinks stand and shoot killed 6 zombies. The magic phase saw
Invocation & Vanhel's cast sucessfully whereas
Hellish Vigour wasn't. The terrorgheists shooting attack failed.On to combat (
Slann issues challenge champ accepts due to Ranidaphobic vampire who reconsiders due to mocking and fights a frog). The combat ended with the saurus fleeing 6"! the Bastiladon/Spirit Host combat continues (
continue to slap harmlessly). The skink/zombie combat sees the skinks lose by 1 but hold!
 |
| Not looking good for my Saurii |
In my turn my now Stegadonless skink chief charges the Terrorgheist. My Lord Kroak unit was the only one to remain motionless. Magic phase gifted me with a 1 + 2, tried to cast deliverance (failed). My skink cheif unleashed the power of
The Egg Of The Quango only to find it was pretty much a dud, it caused a wound shortly before being gulped down by the big smelly bat thing. Other close combats resulted in a stalemate (
Lasersteg and spirit host dick about) and the skink unit handing out some whupp ass on the zombies.
Turn Five
The undead couldn't declare charges on my largely unscathed Kroak unit (mainly due to geometry). Magic was 2 + 2 where Spirit leech was dispelled. Close combat saw the eternal war between the Bastiladon and the Spirit host drag on whilst the brave skinks win combat again (leaving one groaning zombie left).
 |
| Saved by some undead dogs blocking everything else |
My turn consisted of Kroak saurus unit bracing for impact. Cast Deliverance but it got dispelled. The last zombie died to the remaining skinks. Yay!
Turn Six
The undead charge everything into Lord Kroaks unit. This was a Terrorgheist, Nagash, Grave guard unit and ghoul unit (eeeeek!). No magic was cast sucessfully. My saurus were defending a fence so both Terrorgheist and Nagash were at -2 to hit (thanks Kroak). My BSB with the glittering Scale challenged the vampire, and I targetted most of my attacks at the ghoul unit with the most ranks (Shit gets real.). To cut a long story short I kill enough ghouls to have more ranks and therefore stand my ground.
 |
| Shit just got real! |
 |
| Real Shit from another angle |
My final turn saw the skinks charge the flank of the spirit host (pointless as the +2 for a flank charge would be cancelled out by Nagash's crumble rule). The last close combat was inconclusive, yes the undead caused lots of casualties but my BSB twatted the vampire, therefore giving me the moral victory! I passed my steadfast roll and the game was finished.
 |
| The damp squib that is the end of turn six |
Conclussion
A rather solid win for the Undead.Where did it all go wrong? Two things stand out for me, giving Vinny a free skink priest due to poor deployment and letting the spirit host nullify the Bastiladon for nearly the entire game. On the plus side I like Kroak a lot and probably the magical battle was won by the narrowest of margins (Nagash is a level 5and dispelled Deliverance of Itza at least 3 times by equaling my casting roll). So another really fun game and many thanks to the lads in my gaming group. Thanks for reading!
