I narrowly lost (in the sense of I almost took the objective but failed due to some poor luck on the last turn) to Lizardmen in a 2500pt game to 'Claim the Watchtower'. I have made some notes post game of how incredible the Lizardmen appear to have become in the right hands, but one of the finer points I'd noticed was a matchup that I had thought might go my way:
A combat between a unit of 15 Saurus (originally 18 but lost 3 due to a scattered Pit of Shades) and 21 Executioners.
Of course, I'd been a complete idiot by forgetting to use the Cauldrons buff - had originally considered using the 5+ ward on them but got distracted with a question about my potential charges that turn by an opponent before I could declare what it was doing. With hindsight I should probably (if I'd remember in the first place!) have opted for +1 attack (I wish sometime there'd be an option for the cauldron's kb buff to give Exes heroic killing blow (as some fluff suggests) or an special 5+ KB...
).
As it was however it was a straight fight that saw the executioners sustaining a hefty 9 casualties and inflicting a return 7 on the Saurus. Sadly even the prescence of the cauldron and BSB could not hold them however (The heavens Blizzard spell had been cast on them denying easier 'to hit' rolls and a deduction of their LD).
Anyway after the game I noted that the Saurus cost a proportion less than the Executioners (about 50pts or so) - I'd not given the exes a banner but had full command of course.
My question of this thread thus is, have you had combat match ups between Saurus and Executioners and if so, what was the outcome and your thoughts (eg to improve next time) of the situation and experience? Of course, its pretty obvious to gain flank charges on the enemy (less to strike you back with).
My personal thoughts are somewhat twofold: that Always Striking Last has seriously hindered the executioners in combination with HAVING to always use a 'special weapon' if the model has these. In the executioners example, they cannot use their Hand Weapons for instance unless their great weapons are destroyed in some way. Similarly, our warriors must ALWAYS use spear and never hand weapons in combat. This is a shame as the new Parry rule has really impressed me: numerous times my opponents would roll 6s when I least expected them to and perhaps most frustratingly for me - being able to save my few Killing Blow wounds.
So, whats your experience with Executioners vs Saurus? Do they match up well? Do we require large units for this to be a success story? If so, what size?? What is the best cauldron support ability to go for (bearing in mind the 5+ ward save means more chances to attack the enemy), what tactics work well eg. unit pairing to create successful combats (such as having a chariot charge the same enemy unit).
I love executioners, and was impressed when reading a thread a while about their effectiveness, but was somewhat dampened with they suffered so badly several times in this last game.
Thanks for your thoughts. Hopefully write a batrep when I have time: the game was very good fun and I enjoyed the new rules on the whole!
- Beanz
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