Escalation League – Month 1 – 500 Points.

So this last Sunday saw us start off our Escalation league! We had a few no-shows and late drop-outs but we still had 10 people at 11am on a Sunday out of bed and getting their Warhammer on.


In the conversation on our Facebook group, I noticed early on that I might end up being the only person there with a mostly-painted army, so I decided that I would make that my aim. Not by hobbling other players’ efforts but by redoubling my own. I spent the night before the tournament trying to get the base coat for my non-metallic gold on enough Skinks to take with me and then rushing to paint and flock my movement trays which were bare MDF.


I was pretty happy with where I ended up and received a few compliments on my army and that was a nice experience!

Skink Priest, Level 1 Lore of Beasts
– Ruby Ring of Ruin
– Talisman of Protection


10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers


3 Terradon Riders


Salamander Hunting Pack

Game One – High Elves

In game one, I was up against High Elves. I’m not sure if he had any magic items but here was the list:

Mage, Level 1 High Magic
14 Lothern Sea Guard
6 Ellyrian Reavers (bows)

Tiranoc Chariot

Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower

This game was by far the closest of the day. After making a vanguard move with my Terradons, he shot them with basically everything he had, doing enough damage to kill two of them and force a Panic check which my Leadership 5/6 army didn’t like very much. They ran off. I sent two of my Skink Skirmisher units up the flank and managed to poison down his chariot and bolt thrower. I managed to have a much more successful game on the magic front but only through throwing dice well. I dispelled his tempest spell every turn except one and the one time he cast it, it scattered off. I cast Wyssan’s Wildform on the Skink Skirmishers with the Priest, preparing to weather the charge of the Ellyrian Reavers. What I neglected to consider was that Skinks with Wildform are basically any other army’s normal troops and Wildform doesn’t do anything about Weapon Skill 2. They were chased down by the Reavers but took three of the six with them. The Terradon had rallied the previous turn and managed to kill all three Reavers with a single rock dropped on their heads! I surrounded him with my Skinks, littering the ground around his Seaguard and Mage with poisoned javelins. He panicked at one point and ran toward the middle of the table. I chased him for a few turns but was unable to deal enough wounds. Despite having a Terradon and about 15 Skinks to his two Seaguard and one Mage, I lost on Victory Points. What I learnt this game is that Skinks cannot fight in close combat and you shouldn’t really try.

Game Two – Vampire Counts

Game two I was up against Vampire Counts and my god are they filthy at 500 points! Again, I’m not sure exactly what the items were.

Vampire, Level 1 Lore of Vampires


20 Skeleton Warriors
– Champion
– Standard
– Musician
25 Zombies


10 Grave Guard
– Champion
– Standard
– Musician

This game was a bit frustrating because I made some poor decisions. Early on I flew over the top of the Skeletons, hoping to kill the Vampire and start the army crumbling. I figured I’d drop a rock on them on turn 1 and charge them in the rear on turn two and that would give me some much-needed combat res and I’d start to grind through. I didn’t realise quite how rubbish Terradons are in combat. The Vampire stepped up and slaughtered two of them. I got the Skeletons down to about 10 models and the Grave Guard down to two models at various points throughout the game but I switched targets a few too many times. I should’ve just tried to move out of charge arcs and shoot every turn. I’ve played Vampire Counts a few times and mostly you can get by with static combat resolution and grinding through units; unfortunately with small Skirmishers I had literally 0 for static combat resolution. I think he ended the game with literally more models than he had started with. I failed to dispel Invocation of Nehek every turn and he just raised way too many models for me to keep up with.

Game Three – Daemonettes of Slaanesh

Round 3 I was up against Slaanesh Daemons with:

Herald of Slaanesh


10 Daemonettes of Slaanesh


5 Furies with Mark of Slaanesh

5 Seekers of Slaanesh