Thought this would be a good place to collect my Empire battle reports.

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
Player Army Points
Chuck Lizardmen – (7th Edition Army Book) 2250
Trevor Empire (7th Edition Army Book) 2250
Event: Just for Fun Scenario: “Pitched Battle”
Chuck is usually my sounding board for armies that I muster together (and vice versa). My Empire force had been amassed over a decade at this time, with bits and pieces all over the place (assembled, primed, painted, nicely painted). I do enjoy playing normal troopers from time to time (as opposed to my favorite Beastmen – with its prone ability to panic - and my opponent hating Daemons –with its prone ability to utterly crush) – gives me a since of “doing good”. Needless to say, I have not played the Empire Army in a few years and am quite rusty with it – playing does motivate me into painting though – and I hope to have this army 100% painted by next year.
Chuck was eager to try out his new Lizardmen list – full of fluffy stegadons and magic abilities (along with the trusty skinks).
Below is what I remember from Chuck’s list:
CHARACTERS
- Level 4 Big Fat Frog (Immunity to psychology, helpful magic casting items, BSB of some such)
- Level 2 Skink Priest on Engine of the Gods
- Saurus Hero with “Nike”, aka “Zippy”
CORE
- Skinks, Ranked x 10
- Skinks, Ranked x 10
- Skinks, Skirmished x 15
- Saurus Warriors x 20 (Full Command)
SPECIAL
- Temple Guard x 20 (Full Command – Immune to lots, stubborn for all, tough as nails)
- Kroxigors x 3
- Chameleons x 10
- Stegadon
RARE
- None
POWER DICE: 10+ DISPEL DICE: 8+
I brought the following list:
CHARACTERS
- Arch Lector (mounted, barding, Enchanted Shield, Holy Relic, Van Horstman’s Speculum)
- Warrior Priest (Armor of Meteoric Iron)
- Battle Wizard (Rod of Power, Sigil of Sigmar)
- Battle Wizard (Dispel Scroll, Dispel Scroll)
CORE
- Swordsmen x 25 (Full Command with detachments of Archers x 6 and Halberdiers x 9)
- Swordsmen x 25 (Full Command with detachments of Archers x 6 and Halberdiers x 9)
- Knightly Order x 5 (Inner Circle, Standard)
- Knightly Order x 5 (Inner Circle, Standard)
- Handgunners x 10 (Marksmen and detachment of Handgunners x 5)
- Handgunners x 10 (Marksmen and detachment of Handgunners x 5)
SPECIAL
- Great Cannon
- Great Cannon
RARE
- Steam Tank
TOTAL POINTS: 2249
POWER DICE: 6 DISPEL DICE: 7
Scenario – “Pitched Battle” –a normal pitched battle game to get our feet wet with the new lists essentially.
Battle plan – I continued to try and play to my strengths for deployments. On my left flank, the level 2 hill was an obvious choice for the cannons – command of the battlefield for firing, would be close to my core deployments / general as well as supported by cheap handgunners for some charges and harassments. On my right flank, I put my second unit of handgunners to try and coral any stray units into the center of my lines. I deployed the two large swordsmen blocks (I prefer troops that are resilient rather than choppy) and their harassment detachments in the center of my battle line. The Steam Tank was tucked in between them for shooting support and counter charge as necessary. Flanking this formation, I deployed one knight unit on the left and one on the right – these units were to engage the flanks of anything that got stuck in with the swordsmen should the detachments not work out. To help with the hand to hand combat – a priest was assigned to each Swordsmen block (as well as a mage for the time being).

So – the core was to advance and focus on one of the large units across from it (Temple Guard or Saurus Warriors –which ever presented itself as a choice target) while my shooting / artillery worked on anything that may prove “troublesome” for my core units to handle.
Summary – On my left flank, the Chameleon Skinks were starting to make short work of my Handgunners (seeing as they were very difficult to hit at range). I dispatched one mage and one knight unit to flank around and deal with it before they could punch though and start harassing my cannons. Ultimately, the mage was able to get of a magic missile (Feast of Crows) and took out 8 of the skinks and then charged in personally under the influence of Bear’s Anger and took out the rest. He happily stayed in those woods for the rest of the game after that.
In the center, by my shooting phase, by turn two, I had dispatched the Engine of the Gods with a pair of cannon balls (forcing the Skink Priest to jump ship and join with the near by Kroxigor unit (which was run down as it rolled a 2 to try and get away from my rampaging Steam Tank). Each of the screening ranked up Skink units were engaged with a Swordsmen block and dispatched quickly thanks to the Priests’ prayers and combat resolution. Each Swordsmen block was then in a position to engage the Temple Guard on the left or the Saurus Warriors on the right – with the Steam Tank that could go either way (and yes, the Empire was taking quite a bit of damage from the Lore of Metal, but luckily avoiding the nastiest effects due to Big Fat Frog miscasts, Rod of Power, and Dispel Scrolls). Felt that the Steam Tank really needed toward the Temple Guard unit in support as that would be a much more difficult unit to dispatch. So, with a 12” charging move, the Steam Tank dropped 8 of the scaly beasts initially, then with the support of a flanking charge from the Swordsmen, the unit was destroyed and the Big Fat Frog run down (note to self, do no challenge the Temple Guard champion with the Swordsmen champion – this kept the “stubborn / immune to psych” unit with the Big Fat Frog and required an extra turn to beat the unit away! The Saurus Warriors and Swordsmen Block were locked up for the rest of the battle with no one gaining an edge thanks to Prayers and combat resolution – but that suited me fine.

The right flank did not fare very well. The handgunners were charged by “Zippy” who beat them soundly then chased them off the board. “Zippy” then go off another “zip” (failed to dispel on two dice!) into the flank of a knight unit and beat them to a pulp. The right flanking Stegadon was having a field day shooting multiple artillery dice at whatever it could and dodging cannonballs like nobody’s business (handlers were not so lucky as at least 2 were sniped off the back of the beast and a series of misfires did not help either). Luckily, a small unit of archers survived just long enough to keep everything from running amok through my own deployment area.
Result – The Empire was bloodied, but did not brake. I was proud to seem them hold their own and more against a superior foe in most every aspect. Lizardmen magic was held in check for the game, terror checks were minimized (running away mostly, but having LD 9 and Priest Prayers on the board was wonderful). The Steam Tank did far more damage running into units that shooting would ever had done – why did they even put weapons on that thing? Max victory / scenario points.

Unit of the Match? Tough call – both Priests were essential in keeping their units in the fight. Both Mages were essentially in keeping the magic phase under control (and keeping the Steam Tank alive). I would have to go with the Steam Tank though – as it was essential in running down the Skink Priest with Kroxigors as well crippling the Temple Guard unit.
What would I do differently? Forecast more where the enemy units are going to deploy. Chameleons will normally scout ahead in trees – have a plan to deal with it or discourage it. Perhaps don’t forecast so much where my own troops will deploy – see if there is another location for artillery than just the hill.