Chaos vs Lizards - Battle for the Four Stones

For our annual Christmas break 2025 game of Warhammer Fantasy battle, my son loves creating his own stories and special rules.  He wanted to create his own off-shoot storyline from the running narrative story I've been playing (which he's helped play lots of battles with me).  This is a WHFB 4th edition game.

Here's the scenario he came up with: the chaos army is trying to activate the Four Stones (center) so that the special character "Lil' Rocky" can be used.  Get a unit in contact with the center stone scenery piece and they try to "loosen" the stones.  First attempt, need to roll a 6.  If you fail, each subsequent attempt is easier (5 or 6, then 4,5,6, etc.) as the previous attempt loosens the stones. 

Lil' Rocky is a cool figure my son bought at an HMGS flea market and he made up some special rules for him for use in whichever battle he appears.

Other special scenario rule is that if the stones get activated, the warped mechanical "chaos giant" (represented by his 40k Chaos Plague Dreadnought) gets to use the flame cannon (breath fire like a dragon). Until then, just using the normal rules for a Giant. 

The Lizardmen army is trying to stop them. If they can prevent activation of the Four Stones, then Lil Rocky won't show up until mid-way through the next battle of this small linked campaign.

Roughly 1000pts per side.  From the overhead shot, terrain would be the biggest challenge - maneuvering around it would be critical.

Long-ways deployment. 

The Chaos Army emerging from the forest

The Lizards approaching the stones - the Skinks on the road

Lil' Rocky, watching from the side

Chaos split their forces, the harpies, pack of chaos hounds and the beasts going around the right side of the trees, the minotaurs and dragon ogre around the left side.

Newly painted Harpies make their first appearance...

The Kroxigors were deployed in snake formation, weaving their way through the trees

Two blocks of Saurus Warriors, led by the Skink Shaman general (Level 1 mage).  We would soon find out how tough a huge block of Saurus warriors can be.

In the magic phase, the Skink shaman (on foot) cast Fiery Convocation on the fast-flying Harpies, killing one. We didn't think much of it at the time.  But then I read the spell a little closer...."remains in play", gets stronger each magic phase, including your opponents magic phase.  Oops.  The chaos army didn't have a wizard to help dispel.  This might get ugly. 

The Harpies are now on fire...

The Kroxigors emerged from the trees, reformed and prepared to take the charge from the Dragon Ogre.  By now, you can see the flaming mess that was the remains of the Harpy unit. They managed to make contact with the Four Stones objective and loosen it a bit (making it easier to activate in the next turn). But there weren't many harpies left in the unit and there was basically no way to dispel this thing until a dispel card showed up in the cards...

Stalemate in the combat between Dragon Ogre and Kroxigors

Things started to go south for the chaos army at this point.  The Harpies had fled away after getting charged by the skink skirmishers, then the chaos hound pack charged the block of 30 saurus warriors - lost combat, and left. This caused a number of panic checks and the entire center of the chaos army collapsed.  

Run away!

However, the giant (chaos dreadnaught model) took matters into his own hands.  He charged the Shink Shaman general, and promptly ate him.  Not exactly how we expected to dispel the Fiery Convocation spell, but it worked!

At this point the chaos army recovered most of their nerve and rallied.  The Giant continued his MVP performance, jumping up and down in the other block of saurus warriors, smashing and stomping an entire rank and the unit broke and ran. 

A last ditch attempt to turn the tide for the Chaos army was made with the beastmen unit - they charged the big block of saurus, but couldnt cause enough wounds to overcome the huge rank bonus.  They lost combat and broke, narrowly escaping getting run down. 

There was one last hope, though - in the 6th and final turn, chaos had two units in range to make contact with the Four Stones objective, so two more chances to activate and win.  The minotaurs rolled, needing a 5 or a 6 - no luck.  But that made it easier for the giant.  The final roll of the game - on a 4,5, or 6, the giant could seal the deal.  Would the MVP continue his amazing performance???

...no! Rolled a 2.  The Lizards managed to prevent the Chaos horde from activating the Four Stones quickly and bringing Lil Rocky into the start of the next battle (he'll show up mid-way through Game 2). 

What a great game.  It once again showed the beauty of 4th edition WHFB.  Went all the way to the final die rolls of turn 6.  So much fun.  Every turn was a wild swing - Chaos, then Lizards, then Chaos. Wackiness, epic combats, great tactical challenges.   The #BestHammer.  Can't wait for the next game in the story!

Lizardman Stegadon

A good friend plays Lizardmen, but wasn't really thrilled with the idea of building, assembling, and painting an all-metal Stegadon kit.  So I offered to paint it up for him.

Here's the results!

Save the Farm

My good buddy, Rookie Wargamer, had recently painted up some nice scenery and a small sheep, so the gears immediately started turning about a possible scenario...

We really like to use Age of Sigmar rules with the Old World setting: "AoS in the Old World".  That's the setting I used for this game.

Background:

A peasant farmer in the Empire province of Lietzburg has accidentally discovered what appears to be some ancient elven ruins on the edge of his property.  However, the nearby elf lord has also learned of the discovery and has dispatched a force to go reclaim the long missing family heirlooms, as well as conduct an honor killing of the farmer for desecrating the sacred ground.  The elves will also make use of some Lizardmen allied detachments. The farmer is obviously concerned for his safety but, ever the pragmatist, is equally concerned about his livestock.  So he has demanded that his lord Baron Edmund come repel the elven force and ensure the safety of his livestock.  

Objective: 

Both forces must control the elven ruins, as well as the farm. 

Major victory: have the most models within 6 inches of the ruins AND the farm.

Minor victory: control only one of the objectives as described above.

Starting on turn 3, at the end of any Battle Round, if a player holds all objectives as described in "major victory", the game ends immediately.  Otherwise, game ends after turn 5.

Special conditions for Empire player:  since the peasant farmer has requested aid of his lord, and also his livestock, the Empire player must ensure the safety of the herd, too.  Starting in turn 2, roll a die. On a 6, the sheep has escaped and moves randomly.  Roll 2D6 and select highest for distance.  In order to win Major Victory, the Empire player must control both objectives, AND have at least 3 models within 3 inches of the sheep, and have more models than opponent within 3 inches of the sheep.

The sheep can't be killed.  Only one sheep moves, the other animals are just for scenery.

With that, deployment!

We used the collection of barrels in the corner of the livestock pen to represent the "control the farm" objective.

We used this nice new piece of scenery, the statue obelisk thing, to represent the discovered elven ruins in the (also new) rocky outcrops.

The sheep mounted on the bases is the one able to get loose...

Lord Edmund, deployed at edge of farm.   Halberds in the crop field.   Behind the farmhouse, the small unit of Lord Edmund's personal guard (greatswords) have deployed as a reserve.

Swords and Pistoliers.

High Elf spears and archers have already breached the outer crop field.

Kroxigors in the center, looking menacing and generally irritable.

Small unit of saurus deployed on the Allied left flank to threaten the elf ruins.

The Elf Lord, sporting a nice new paint job.

The battle has begun.  Pistoliers advance and decimate the saurus after the crossbows do their work.

The allied line surges foreward

Despite some taunts and jeering from the Allied commanders, Lord Edmund takes up position behind the wall, prepared to bring his considerable skill to bear at the critical point...

The Elves unleash their arrow storm fury, ripping the halberds to shreds.  The farmer hears the commotion and quickly retrieves his old and battered halberd off the mantle above the fireplace and runs outside to lend a hand.  It's been years since he retired from the state troops unit but he still remembers how to get in formation.

The Allied line crashes into the Empire line.

The sheep has gotten loose!  The farmer will be asking for steep reparations...

Swordsmen hold firm, securing the elven ruins.

Not many crossbows left, they try in vain to fend off the Reavers.

The kroixgors make short work of the pistoliers

Seeing the left flank and farm about to collapse, Lord Edmund charges into the advancing spearmen, scattering the sheep.

The lizards surround the swordsmen

After finishing off the crossbows, the Reaver Knights leap through a collapsed section of the ancient wall, attempting to surround the swordsmen

Not looking good for the swordsmen with the swift Reavers dashing to the rear

Upon seeing their lord engaged in combat, the personal guard charge into the spearmen cutting a number of them down.

At this point, we forgot to take more pictures.  But basically, it was turn 3 and the battle hung in the balance.  The allied flank had totally decimated the Empire right flank around the elven ruins and had total control of that objective.  The Sheep was loose and the Empire did not have enough units left to go chase him down, so there was no way for them to win.  However, they could still force a tie and the greatswords unit almost pulled it off.  They had nearly tipped the scales in the melee in front of the farm, but it wasn't quite enough.   The Empire side conceded victory to the Allied forces.

It was a really fun game, and I think the very brief background story and simple scenario brought the game to life.  Fully painted armies and decent scenery made a huge difference as well.