This is the second one on one game Brook and I played while Rob and Chris where doing their thing. This time Brook switched to Lizardmen and we opted for a smaller 1500 point game. Again, we where looking to try out a couple of rules changes and here they are:
One of the rules we tested was voting thread 5D
http://yourmovegames.com/forum/index.php/topic,4615.0.htmlwhere the wording for the Pila rule goes from
When a non-cavalry non-skirmisher unit throws javelins (or pila) while on Close, mark off the range indicator. A unit does not make a range attack while the range indicator is marked. The mark is erased when one of the following happens:
--the unit's Standing Order is changed from Close.
--the unit becomes unengaged after being engaged.
--you spend a Command Action in the Movement & Command phase to erase the mark.
To
“When a non-cavalry non-skirmisher unit throws javelins (or pila), mark off the range indicator. A unit does not make a range attack while the range indicator is marked. The mark is erased when one of the following happens:
--the unit becomes unengaged after being engaged.
--you spend a Command Action in the Movement & Command phase to erase the mark.”
The other rules is voting thread 5E
http://yourmovegames.com/forum/index.php/topic,4616.0.htmlWhich essentially says that Pila should lose attack dice when units go into the yellow or red just like all other ranged attacks.
Set Up
Lizardmen played by BrookTop to bottom:
Swarmling Warriors
Swarmling Warriors
Swarmling Warriors
Swarmling Warriors
Ancients
T-Rex
This is an obvious overload deployment which you will see I had little answer for.
Rome played by yours trulyTop to bottom:
Italian Swordsmen backed by Hastati (also partially behind the Principes)
Cretan Archers backed by Principes
Veteran Principes
Italian Swordsmen backed by Triarii
Velites backed by Principes
I was impressed that I was able to field 9 units at 1500 points so easily. I knew that the big monster guys where going to totally crunch my left flank and I was hoping that my Veteran Principes would be able to blast through the Swarmlings and pinch the Ancients before my left flank crumbled completely. I was confident that the rest of my units could handle the remaining Swarmlings. I had the Hastati where they where to provide the backup courage bonus to the Italian Swordsmen and Principes.
Early Turns
The Lizardmen standing orders where simple: charge! I had the right side of my line shuffle so that I could engage the enemy units one on one. So much for the backup courage bonus. Brook placed Fury on 3 of his Swarmlings. My Skirmishers did little to no damage early on, not that I was expecting the T-Rex to take much of anything. The Velites ran off when engaged as is their way. So did the Cretan Archers. I used direct control to keep Italian Swordsmen away from the Ancients for 1 turn. My Principes found themselves squeezed out of an engagement somehow, so they got to watch the first round of combat after a pila toss. Aside from an Italian Swordsmen unit scoring a point of damage on The Ancients, my Pila toss for most of my line units was unimpressive.
Mid Turns
Again, note the little “P’s” above the standing order circle for units that have thrown their pila.
The rest of the line units clashed and things got real hairy for Rome in a hurry. The Pincipes and Italian Swordsmen didn’t take a whole lot of damage on the charge turn against the big scary monsters, so that was good. The Veteran Principes did expected damage to their Swarmling opponents, but took decent damage in return. Both went into the yellow and both held their ground. The other Principes got housed, and I mean HOUSED by their Swarmling opponents. It was an even fight between my Hastati and their Swarmling opponents, and the Italian Swordsmen on my far right actually defeated their Swarmling opponents swiftly with a failed courage check being involved. Brook regretted not giving that unit Fury.
The next round was where the problems began. We had a turn where 2 of Brook’s Swarmlings, my Principes (facing the T-Rex), Italian Swordsmen (facing the Ancients), Principes (getting HOUSED by Swarmlings), and Hastati all had to roll courage checks. All units failed! This was inconveniencing to Brook, but devastating to me since it cost me 2 units vs. his units merely running off.
Endgame 
Rome continued to fight on despite the landslide of badness. The T-Rex took another nibble out of my Velites and the Triarii stepped up to engage the Ancients, which suddenly started inflicting serious damage despite needing 2s to hit. My Veteran Principes simply could not force a courage failure on their Swarmling opponents (now in the red) and they got pinched for their efforts. They blew the pre-combat courage check (surprised?) and bit the dust. A small portion of luck was still with me as My Cretan Archers where able to force the other Swarmlings to run off. Small victories and all of that. I surrendered shortly thereafter. I would eventually be able to clean up the rest of the Swarmlings, but I had no way to stop the big guys from eating the rest of my army.
Final Thoughts As Brook’s courage dice bit him hard in our first game, they bit me hard in the second one. The performance of the 2 Swarmling units that where engaging my Principes and Veteran Principes was astounding. I did better on the perimeter, but I really needed my heavy units in the center to win their fights quickly and that didn’t happen. I will say that Brook got excellent use out of Fury as it helped him pass a couple of courage checks and it also scored him some extra damage.
I have noticed that unless you utilize tomfoolery with fast, cheap units Rome has little answer for big scary super-unit types.
I had an instance where I used the command action to reload pila, but can’t remember specifically where it occurred. More importantly, I did get to see a couple of instances where pila-wielding units lost attack dice once they where in the yellow and those instances felt right. I like that particular rule proposal.
Heroes of the GameLizardmen – The Swarmlings that housed my Principes. It wasn’t even close!
Rome – uh, nobody. While many of my units performed as expected, nobody stood out.
Big game write up coming up next!
