VCs vs. Lizzies... The Ultimate Smackdown between 2 powerhouse armies.

Matt and I met today to finally bring our best 2 armies to rumble . Here's how it went.


I brought

Vampire Lord with Skull staff and Helm of Commandment (L)
2nd Level Vampire (V)
2nd Level Vampire (V)
BSB 2nd level Vampire with Drakenhoff banner (V)

3 X 10 man units of skellies with various magic banners (S)
20 zombies (Z)
10 Direwolves (w)
3 Fell bats (F)
1 Vargulf (V)
2 Corpse Carts (C)
1 Black Coach. (Bc)


Matt brought is recent tourney army including :

Lord Kermit (L)
2 Lvl 2 Skink Priests on Ancient Stegadons with Engine of the Gods on each one (AS)
1 Scar Veteran with Jag totem (V)

1 Temple Guard Unit (T)
1 Saurus unit (S)
1 unit of Salamanders (Sa)
1 unit of Teradons (Te)
2 large units of Skinks (s)


The board was a nice mix of terrain with a large hill to the right center. There were forests in 2 quadrants and ruins in the opposite 2 quadrants. Matt set up with all of his units on the deployment line. He was spread out pretty wide with 2 skink units on the ends and both Stegadons next to each other on my left flank. His saurus and temple guard formed the center and his Sallies were slightly on my right flank.

I had a narrower frontage most of my army deployed towards the right half of Matts army. My 2 skellie units and my Zombie unit sat on the deployment line with my Character unit and corpse carts behind them. The Black coach was deployed between the right hand skellie and zombie unit. On my right flank I had my fast moving Vargulf and Fellbats behind a small wood and my ultra fast wolves were deployed all the way down the right flank towards the board edge.




Matt got first turn, moved up all units max distance. Magic phase saw my left hand corpse cart reduced to 1 wound (from a fire ball !)
But that was about it. no other major damage. No CC phase.

In my first turn I moved my left most skellies to prepare for the inevitable Steg charge, and basically swung the rest of my units up with the fast moving wolves and Vargulf threatening Matt's flank. My Bats held back in reserve as I didn't want to see them fried by magic, and to cover my wolves in case they were charged. In the magic phase, my Coach sucked up 3 power dice !, immediately granting it scythe wheels, hatred, and Magic resistance 3 ! In a very important roll, Matt attempted to end my magic phase after my first spell attempt by using the cube of darkness, but he rolled under a 4. If he had succeed, there's a good chance I would have suffered an early loss. The rest of my magic phase went very well with Matt failing to dispel most of my Innvocations. My left skelli unit got bumped up to 26 skellies, my right skelli unit got bumped to 21, and the zombies got boosted to 31. Double corpse carts are very nice, I just discovered.

Second Turn, Matt declares a double steg charge on my left skellie unit !!!... Ouch.. He also charges his sallies into my wolves who are threatening the right flank. Why didn't he just waste them with shooting? I don't know. In the magic phase, Matt puts a bit of a hurting on my skellie uints and my Character unit with both Engines going off at long range and fire magic from the Slann. The Slann actually miscasts !, but using a magic item, Matt bounces the miscast to my Vampire Lord !. Luckily, I roll a six, which does nothing. In the shooting phase, his teradactlys drop rocks on my wounded corpse cart and finish it off (silly me for not healing it .. duh). The skinks on my right flank target the Vargulf, but fail to damage it. In close combat.. the Stegs plow into my left skellie unit doing 8 impact wounds ! But thanks to my weapon skill 7, only 1 more skellie dies. I lose combat by like 5 and take 4 more crumble wounds. I have like 6 skellies in the unit after that. On the right flank, the Salamanders hit my wolves and kill 3. I lose by 2 and I have 5 wolves alive afterwards.

In my turn things start to get interesting. My Fell bats charge the salamanders in the flank. My Vargulf charges the skinks on the right flank.. My Zombies and Black coach charge the Temple Guard with the Slann in the front, but the zombies fail the charge (doh !), My right hand skellie unit charges the Saurus block directly in front of it. In my magic phase, the Coach sucks off another powerdice and gains Killing Blow. Matt has no answer for my magic phase. I invocate the skellie unit facing the stegs back up to 27 skellies, and beef the other skellie unit up to 26. I also beef up my Characters skellie unit too back up to 14 skellies or so. Matt does a good job making sure I don't get any major spells off, and crucially dispels my bound Dance Macabre spell to prevent my Zombies from getting mixed in with the temple guard. In the close combat phase, starting from right to left, the Fell Bats fail to kill any skinks, and they proceed to wound a fell bat. The Sallies fail all their to hit rolls and I win combat by 1. Since Sallies cause fear they do not autobreak and end up passing their break test. The skinks run from the Vargulf but are caught and destroyed. The Black Coach crashes into the Saurus doing 4 impact hits, killing 2. The mounts and wraith kill another 2. The TG hit back but fail to wound the toughness 6 black coach, and I only lose combat by 2, 1 wound of which is negated by my standard bearer. The right hand skellie unit crashes into the Saurus block, with a lovely WS 7 on them. Matt, needing 5s to hit rolls very poorly and finds himself losing combat. Even worse he loses to a fear causing enemy who outnumbers him. He fails to roll double 1's (even on 2 attempts with the BSB nearby), flees, and is run down ! The scar veterans head and standard would now adorn my skeletal champion's trophy room. The Stegies and my other unit fight to a standstill, he kills like 6 more skellies, big woop. Guess what, how does it feel to get stuck in.. ay Matt !.

3rd turn, Matt declares a charge on my left hand engaged skellie unit to hit them in the rear, but fails his fear test..! His other units of skinks moves up to fire on my second corpse cart. Everything else of his is engaged. In the magic phase, the engines go off, killing lots of skellies, but not enough. The Slann reduces the corpse cart to 1 wound left, but it just will not die. The skinks shooting is ineffectual. Close combat phase sees the wolves and fell bats break and run down the Salamanders after killing the skinks. The Black coach kills a couple more TG, but loses combat by like 4. BSB negates 1 wound and I pass my 3 other 4+ ward saves !! The stegadons almost do enough damage to finally be rid of the pesky skeleton unit that has held it up for 2 turns, but the still leave about 4 left in the unit.

In my turn I declare a charge with my wolves into the temple guard flank, and my zombies to the front.. My Vargulf spins around to threaten the rear of the temple guard or to get mixed in with the Stegadons if needed. The Fell bats fly behind the temple guard unit, trying for an assassination run on the Slann. The right hand skelleton unit reforms to face the stegadons. In my magic phase, I raise the left hand Skellie unit up again to like 16 skellies and raise my Character unit again as well. I get the Dance Macabre off and crash the right hand skelleton unit into the flank of one of the stegs. In the CC phase, the Slann and his temple guard are now facing the Black Coach, (who has also now become ethereal and flying) , the zombie unit , and the wolves. I win combat by 1. But the stubborn leadership 9 re rollable, immune to psychology temple guard aren't going anywhere. The Steggies finally lose combat this time, thanks to the flank charge by my second skellie unit. The left most Steggie breaks, but I can't pursue (boo hoo)

Turn 4. Matt charges the terradons into the rear of my left skellie unit again, and this time passes his fear test. The steggy that ran, rallies. Mat moves up his skinks to fire at my general's unit. In the magic phase, not much happens. More skelletons die, that's about it. In CC, my wolves bit the dust against the temple guard and my zombies lose like 5 of their number. The Black Coach is now untouchable, but still loses more wounds due to losing combat. But the zombies and black coach are still stuck in !! I finally kill the Skink priest on the Steggy that's in CC with 10 skeleton attacks that targeted him. The terradons fail to wound and Matt loses combat again. The Steggy passes , but the Terradons flee through my generals unit and are destroyed.

In my turn I charge the Vargulf and Fell Bats into the rear of the Temple Guard. The magic phase sees me basically just raising more skellies and preparing for the stegadon that fled, to charge back into the mix. In CC, the Vargulf hits the Slann with Hatred causing 4 wounds !, but makes makes 3 ward saves and only takes a wound. The Fell bats fail to wound him as well ! The TG hit the bats and kill one , thereby negating my rear charge bonus. ! The zombies and Black coach kill like 1 saurus, and I lose combat. The Bats are destroyed, but the Vargulf makes all of his regen saves ! The Steggie still engaged loses combat to my skellie units and finaly breaks and is run down.

At this point , Matt calls the game, knowing that both skellie units will crash into the second stegadon, and that the Slann would most likely die before the end of the game.

The game was alot of fun (at least for me) and very satisfying. It was pure enjoyment seeing Matt struggle with his Lizards after watching him absolutely crush me the first 3 times we played. It took everything I had to just draw with him last time.

But in all seriousness, great game Matt... there were some things there that really could have turned the tide that didn't go your way.
So you want a rematch?

No. The game had it's moments, but for the most part is was boring and above all frustrating for me. I don't look forward to a rematch

And THATS why VCs are a Tier 1 army, right up there with Demons. Very different undead army than TKs, the ability to get saves vs crumble and the ammount of stuff they can raise a turn is VERY strong.

Sounded like a good game, i just dont think that Lizardmen have the firepower necessary to take down 1 unit per turn, prob only flamers have that kind of shooting.

Is frustating taking down a unit to 1 guy, only to see it beefed up to 30 next turn ! lol.

Stefan, you got lucky as hell with the coach ! you got like all of the abilities by turn 3!! And it cracks me up evrytime i see WS 7 and ekeletons on the same sentence

No. The game had it's moments, but for the most part is was boring and above all frustrating for me. I don't look forward to a rematch

Oh Come on. How can you say it was boring. The game could have gone either way for most of the game. All it would have taken was a little more luck for you.

Maybe it was boring because your magic wasn't analy raping me like it does to every other army? Or maybe it was boring because you didn't get to see a 380 pt Knight unit get reduced to smoldering ashes because of a couple of lousy UNDISPELABLE magical attacks that you get to do every friggin turn.

I think you got bored because you didn't get to see shit blow up like you normally do.

It was... Kill a bunch of skeletons... raise em back up.... kill a bunch of skeletons..... raise em back up.

Intead of what you're used to which is... Kill my enemy's most exepensive unit... Next turn, Kill my enemies second most expensive unit.... next turn I win... thanks for playing .


Luis, I wasn't very lucky with the coach... Every turn it either tried to suck up my 14 powerdice or when next to the Slan, Matt's 6 powerdice.

Ovich wrote:
Oh Come on. How can you say it was boring.

Ovich wrote:It was... Kill a bunch of skeletons... raise em back up.... kill a bunch of skeletons..... raise em back up.

This.

What are you talking about.

That's Fun !!

At least for me !

Ovich wrote:What are you talking about.

That's Fun !!

At least for me !

You are an evil man and should be beaten with a rubber bat.

Bring it on !! Bone Daddy. !

Diosamblet wrote:

Ovich wrote:
Oh Come on. How can you say it was boring.

Ovich wrote:It was... Kill a bunch of skeletons... raise em back up.... kill a bunch of skeletons..... raise em back up.

This.

I gotta go with Matt on this one! The raising of Skellies that are WS7!!! is annoying in the extreme...always fun to play against you Stephan, but that VC list makes me want to bring a flamethrower to the game and burn all your minis!!!

It's only annoying for the enemy .. Muhahahahahahhahahahahaha

Sound like you 2 had a good match

Don't feel bad Stephen, Matt didn't accept my rematch offer either

You and Stephan should get a game in, the most broken ass armies finally facing each other.

Diosamblet wrote:You and Stephan should get a game in, the most broken ass armies finally facing each other.

It would be an event of Apocalyptical proportions !. "Unstopable force (demons)" vs "Unmovable object (VCs)" !!

Matt,

Why don't you just down grade the Temple guard, get rid of the sallies and terradons, and just take another Priest on an ancient steg.

You'll get 15 power dice (with the Slan, it's an equivalent of 21 power dice)
and 10 dispel dice.

Your magic phase alone would completely rape people, and with 3 Stegs getting mixed in with 3 engines. Forget about it.

Use the extra 6th edition steg you have just one time to see what the army can do.

Stephan, I like playing you as a player. I don't enjoy playing against your VC's, much less your current set up.

It bothered me that you brought what seemed to be the most broken list you could cook up. A lot can be said about raising the power level of my tournament list to try and match yours, or try new tactics or approaches, etc.

I'm not interested: I'd rather play other armies.

Come on Matt,

You should know that the list you played was almost the same set up as the one I got beaten with by Sergio's Ogres with a few differences, only in unit choices, not magic items or character choices.

Here were the differences.

I took Wolves, the Black coach, Fell Bats, and an extra corpse cart instead of a unit of Black Knights and a unit of Cairn Wraiths.

Now let's think about this.
Why would I take the Cairn Wraiths or the Black Knights against you when I know they would be USELESS against your army.

Should I have just taken them anyway?

I mean what did you expect, that I would just take some lame ass army? I didn't know that you were taking the same army that you've been playing at tournaments.

This was set to be the ultimate showdown. The Lizzies HAD to be beaten. So I did what any one of these other mutherfuckers would have done.

Ovich wrote:This was set to be the ultimate showdown. The Lizzies HAD to be beaten. So I did what any one of these other mutherfuckers would have done.

I was unaware of this "ultimate showdown", "lizzies must be beaten" thing. As far as I knew we wanted to see if the new army book could compete with the VC's. Had I known it was going to be a win-at-all-costs cheese fest, I wouldn't have bothered.

Hehe, oh how I love it!

Hey, I've got a bunch of guys on horses, they're looking for a good time whenever it can happen!

Hopefully I'll even get them painted, whenever school lets me...

stephan, I'd like to play against your VC some time if you're ever up for a game

The Eldar Guy wrote:stephan, I'd like to play against your VC some time if you're ever up for a game

Yeah! Me too!

Allright,

Maybe I was dramaticizing a little bit.

Yeah.. guys, as soon as I got the time.