Escalation League First Game - Skaven vs. Tomb Kings, Victory!

Had my first game in the Escalation League vs. Tomb Kings and finally got to write a Battle Report for it. To recap: 750 point lists, all core with 1 Hero level character allowed. I forgot to bring something to write on, so this is from memory.



Here was my list:

1 Warlock Engineer: General, Lvl 2 Wiz, Warp Energy Condenser, Ironcurse Icon, Seed of Rebirth
Spells: Crack's Call & Death Frenzy, swapped for Warp Lightning.

30 Clanrats: Full command, spear and shield, w/ Poison Wind Mortar team
20 Stormvermin: Full command, Razor Banner w/ Warpfire Thrower team
30 Slaves: Musician, shields
5 Giant Rats + 1 Packmaster

Opponents list:
Lichepriest, lvl 2 Wiz, dispel scroll.
Spells: Desert Wind, Righteous Smiting

25 Skeleton Warriors w/spears
20 Warriors with spears
4 Chariots
5 Skeleton Cavalry

Deployment:

I got to place the walls, so I made sure to place them to restrict movement as much as possible for his Chariots.

Turn 1 Skaven

The cavalry moved on a Vanguard move. My models moved up. My Engineer cast Warp Lightning on the Liche's bunker and killed 3. The Mortar misfired (on the first turn!), but the result was allow the opponent to move it 3d6" inches and it landed nowhere.

Turn 1 Tomb Kings

His units moved up. The Liche cast Righteous Smiting on the Chariots who got a bazillion shots on my Giant Rats, but only 4 hits. He wounded 3 rats so they died, but they passed their Panic test.

Turn 2 Skaven

My units continued to move up. The Mortar moved back to keep out of any charge lanes from the Skeleton Cav. The magic phase was uneventful with an Irresistible Crack's Call, but the distance roll sucked and fell short of the Chariots. 2 Stormvermin died for the effort. The Warpfire Thrower got a 10" roll for its attack and caused 3 wounds to 2 chariots blowing them to smithereens. Alas, the TK player would get one back from his lore attribute on his turn. The Mortar team fired on the Cavalry and managed to kill 2 after a 2" scatter.

Turn 2 TK
(Forgot to save the image in Battle Chronicler... so embarrassed...)
The Chariot moved up more, the player maneuvering so as not to incur a dangerous terrain test on the fencing. The cavalry moved to round the corner. The liche cast Righteous Smiting but it got dispelled. He then cast an Irresistible Desert Wind on the Cavalry moving them up more. The Chariots shot at the Giant Rats again, getting 2 hits, one on a rat and one on the Packmaster. The rat died and the Packmaster rolled a 6! So no wound on him. However, they failed their Panic test and fled 10 inches.

Turn 3 Skaven

The Clanrats try to free reform but fail the Ld test. The slaves charge the Chariots and only lose 1 to the Dangerous Terrain test (those are some nimble slaves!) for charging over the obstacle. The Mortar scatters directly back towards the Clanrats (!) but it falls short. The Warpfire Thrower rolls a piddly 2" for its shot and roasts 2 slaves for its trouble. The slaves, apparently spurred on by the Warpfire, destroy 1 Chariot and put 2 wounds on another. The Chariots do nothing back and the unit crumbles. Go slaves! The overrun isn't enough to take it into the flank of the Skeleton warriors though. Pity. The Giant Rats fail their Ld test and run off the board.

Turn 3 TK

The warriors move up and the Cavalry charges the Clanrats. The Liche casts Desert Wind on the warriors with Irresistible Force, blowing his buddies up and causing a wound to himself in the process. In combat, the Clanrats' 16 attacks wipe out the Cavalry before they can attack back. They pass their Ld test to avoid overrunning and reform to face the Warriors.

Turn 4 Skaven

The Clanrats charge the Warriors. The Slaves reform to face the bunker unit. The Mortar moves over and the Warpfire Thrower moves to get a shot on the bunker unit. In the magic phase, I read the Crak's Call rules to my opponent and explain how there's controversy over if it can be cast into combat or not. He said he believed it could, so I 6 diced it and he scrolled it. In combat, the Warriors actually beat the rats by 1 and they hold rolling their Ld on the nose. I believe on this turn I tried charging the Warriors with the Stormvermin and failed the charge.

Turn 4 TK

The bunker unit fails to charge the Slaves. The Liche casts Righteous Smiting on his unit. The Warriors lose combat by 1 or 2 and lose a couple more models.

Turn 5 Skaven

The slaves charge the bunker unit, the Stormvermin fail a second charge! Argh! They only needed a 5 to reach and I rolled a 3! Nothing in the magic phase. The Warpfire Thrower gets a good roll and kills 6 or 7 skeletons. In the resulting combat, the TK unit is a blender with all those extra attacks killing 9 slaves. They lose combat but hold, needing a 4 to hold and I rolled a 3. I told them they'd be promoted to Clanrats for their victories this day.

Turn 5 TK
(forgot the image again... sigh...)
The Clanrats fail their fear test this turn but still manage to won combat. The slaves get beaten, badly, and scatter. Guess they celebrated a bit early.

Turn 6

The Stormvermin finally get their charge, but fail their Fear test! However, between them and the Clanrats, they wipe out the warriors.

At this point the TK player conceded. It was a crushing blow to the TK. All they got VP wise was my Ginat Rats and Slaves, so 100 vp to him. I took everything but his bunker unit, and while we didn't add it up, I had to have gotten in the high 500's.

It was an enjoyable game. We were both learning the game as we played (well, relearning it for me) so there was a lot rules referencing. Very fun though. It was good to be "back in the saddle again" so to speak, after over a decade. Truth be told, he handed me his Chariots. Instead of deploying them on the flank, he ran them down the middle which was choked by obstacles. Not wanting to take a Dangerous Terrain test, he left them open for a flank charge by my Slaves. That was his big hitting unit. After that it was attrition with the warriors. After all was said and done, all he was left with was his Lichepriest and about 5 Warriors.