Lizardmen awaken from their slumber!

It's been a while since my Lizardmen army has seen the gaming table, so I relished the opportunity to bring out the colors, at a game in Culpeper with my friend, Aaron.  Aaron was recently bitten by the Warhammer Fantasy bug, and he bought the Island of Blood starter set.

Aaron arranged the game at a local game store, which had just opened in Culpeper.  Aaron promoted the game, in order to generate buzz and grow a more local wargaming community.  Culpeper is about an hour-and-half away from me, but I was glad to lend a hand and help spark some more interest in our great hobby!

Aaron assembled, primed, and basecoated all of his Skaven forces in only two weeks!  Bravo!  Not shown in this first photo are his Rat Ogres, another weapon team, and his other hero character.  Aaron will be adding more washes, highlights, and details, but this is a great start.  Always a pleasure to see a painted force across the table.

Aaron devised his own scenario, to use as a graduated learning aid.  His Skaven kidnapped a Skink Priest, and a small holding party of 500 points is tasked to delay the pursuing Lizardman army.  The Lizardmen have a full 1000 points, but they must spread out their deployment from reserves, in 350/350/300 splits, over the first 3 turns.  Victory points are awarded for the ability of the Lizardmen to force the Skaven off the river vs the duration that the Skaven can hold their position or remain in play.

The Lizardmen succeeded in the near-impossible task of dislodging the Skaven from the river by Turn 2, but not by anything that the Lizardmen did.  The Skaven had the misfortune to have their Warplock Engineer blow himself up on his first ever attempt to cast magic.  This frightful calamity caused the other two units to turn tail and run!  River clear.  Mission accomplished!

Another Skaven player joined forces with Aaron for a second game.  We played a basic Battleline scenario with 1000 points per side. 

Unfortunately, I stopped taking photos.  But here are a couple of Aaron's photos:

Salamander fire and Skink Priest magic (Curse of the Midnight Wind, of all things!) softened up the Skaven, while, in return, the Skaven warpstone-powered war machine was belabored by the ill fortune of blowing up, and their magic was likewise cursed with Miscasts.  Lizardmen pressed the advantage and charged their weakened eternal nemesis.  Here, the rodents turn tail and flee.

In the upper left, Plague Monks and Slave Rats surround the mighty Stegosaurus, in an attempt to bring it low.  But the Steg had initiated the encounter by braving the icy waters of the powerful river, giving the Stegadon an unheard-of jump boost in Initiative, enabling him to, again, soften the foe beforehand (literally, by Stomping them underfoot!).

Ultimately, the Lizardmen capitalized on their early advantage and their good fortune (my dice were HOT, for a change!), and they claimed victory.

Good times!