4th Edition: Battle #047 Nature (Herd) vs Nature (Elementals) in Invade

Intro and Lists

He's a busy guy, painting up a lot of stuff and playing a lot of different games, but I had the pleasure of meeting up with Kenny of the Combat Phase podcast for a game of Kings of War. He is keen top play, but been a few months since his last game. Fresh off the Fracture release, he brought his Elementally-focused Nature army:

With a new book in front of him, he wanted some assistance in building his list. He didn't have a paper copy, but we did have my paper list to help with Command Orders. He was paging through the Fracture book, and keying stuff into the app to check slots, but for the life of me, sitting down to write the report up, I just could not figure out Kenny's exact list list and how we are somehow 30 points over. 

Kenny had played at the Northwoods GT in February, and then once around April (against me, in Battle 030!). In both the April game and now, the basis of the list was his older Northwoods List. However, Fracture has been released since he last played, and Gladewalker Druids increased from 125 to 140 points. I think he was working off of the outdated FoN List in the Companion, as it all looks to foot in the old version. I don't think this really changes anything - the Gladewalker lost the double-Surge from Elemental Affinity, which we did catch, so it all works out I guess? 

Given his time away from the game, the goal was to play a nice, clean, slow game and to be focusing on the basics, reinforcing good habits, like stating intentions and having proactive discussions to avoid any bad situations. Winning is explicitly not the goal here, for either of us. In the spirit of all that, I had given Kenny the option of playing against the Herd or the Dwarfs, and he opted for fighting the Herd, so that's what I brought. My favorite Guardian Brutes are still in the process of being rebased, so I took the opportunity to explore a bunch of other units and ideas:

• Chieftain. The Fracture update dropped his attacks from a strong 8 down to a mediocre 6. I liked how he could previously hold his own in fights, even in the midst of grinds, and he was a powerful combat individual, which is a rarity, especially nowadays. He gained Strider though, so perhaps he's better in bad situations, or in starting fights? We'll try him out and see how he feels.
• Druid on Foot, Banner, BC, Heal. We don't have a lot of speed in the list, so we've dropped the steed to save some points. Arguably, I could be running Veil, or Barkskin or even Blizzard, but I still like the basic Heal and Bane Chant, so we'll keep with those simple spells here.
• Mounted Druid, BC, Big Heal. For the Unicorn, we're keeping Shroud of the Saint for a larger heal, and sticking with the basic spells since so many other things are new. 
• Ydrin Thorncreeper. A newcomer! With 7 attacks, shaming the Chieftain. As mentioned in the Hobby Update, he's got some neat rules, but I still think his chances of survival in a given game is doubtful. Still, he's a new unit, and I'm keen to give him a chance.
• Tribal Spears. I am excited to be able to run these again! Hordes are probably better, but I am not super-confident with hordes, and with Pathfinder still not interacting with charges nowadays, I figured we'd seize the opportunity to try some regiments and MMU play. 
• Critters. They are the only real chaff I have, so we'll continue to take them. We have some powerful commands now, so I can understand design-wise why Nature might not get super-speedy chaff now, but this still sucks. 
• Centaur Bray Striders. I think Centaur Troops could be very powerful with some of the new Commands, particularly the Entanglement of Thorns, though Barkskin could be strong too. In order to play around with that idea, we'll take two troops of these as well.
• Grymbrocks! I thought Retaliate had been updated, but apparently they just changed the Dwarf command? That seems weird, and a bummer. Moving this kind of unit into the Specialist slot seems fine for balance, but I wish they had just kept the Longhorns, or given us the new version when 4E launched. This and especially the new base sizes for the Guardian Brutes just strike me as a bit mean-spirited. Griping aside, we're really indexing hard into the Grymbrocks. With TC3, they hit just like cavalry, so I really wanted to explore them, thinking there might be some things to learn about actual cavalry units in the new edition.
• Great Totem. Another newcomer! The Totem strikes me as a useful and very versatile support piece, but also a very high-skill unit. With Advance Deployment, I'll need to guess where it might be useful, and see what happens. I think we'll try to stick this by buildings or terrain for some extra protection, and just see what happens.

I largely try to avoid "mirror" matches in the blog, but with two drastically different sub-factions at play here, this seemed interesting, and worth pursuing. Despite having the "same" army, not a single unit is shared between our lists! It should be neat to see us both adjusting to and dealing with all of the new Commands. 

Table and Terrain

We were out at the wonderful Valhalla Hobby in Verona, WI. I've actually been here a few times, but very irregularly. It is a phenomenal little shop with a huge selection of stuff, and with an online store as well! Kings of War has not been a huge hit for them, and the club has cleared them out of most things over time, but they've still got a few nicely discounted boxes for this, and many other games. If you are looking for deals on miniatures, check them out!

Kenny had beaten me out to the store, and was making use of the box of terrain he keeps with him, apparently at all times. You can't forget stuff if it is always in your car! His mat was from Mantic, but is apparently 44 inches deep and about a foot shy width-wise as well. I'm not sure what the original games was, but you can see the difference between it and the MDF table topper clearly. We opted for "realism" and playing on the smaller mat.

Overview of the table, with a small matt and very large terrain pieces! 

The terrain selection is a bit of a catch-all for many of his other games, large skirmishing and narrative ones. We lacked obstacles, but had enough to fill the board.We had Forests with Height 10, the blocking Buildings at Height 7, ponds were Height 0 Difficult Terrain, and the massive hill was just height 3. 

With an odd board and terrain, we shrunk our deployment zones appropriately, and opted for the more straightforward "Invade" scenario. Victory will go to whomever gets more unit strength over the center line, which from my vantage point is marked by the far edge of the 75mm base and running essentially just beyond the base of the hill.

I shared my default "grab 2/3rds of the board" advice and my opponent sort of took it to heart. Left-to-right for the Elementals we gave the Water Elemental troop screening for the Greater Air Elemental, and an Earth Elemental Troop screening for a Gladewalker and the Scorchwings.

The bulk of the Elementals.

In the center the Elementals had Shamblers, the Greater Water Elemental and the regiment side-by-side and blocking for the Fire Elementals, then another Earth Elemental Troop blocking for the Gladewalker Druid with Blizzard, and the Air Elementals in reserve, a bit behind the building. On the right, able to overshoot the building was the last troop of Forest Shamblers.

Herd on the left.

The Herd had a drop and Unit Strength advantage, though against multiple Monsters and Warlords, it actually wasn't as big as one might expect just looking at the board.

Herd in the center.

The Herd went wide with Spears, Ydrin, more spears, and Critters screening for Grymbrocks out on the right. The center had Centaurs screening for the mounted Druid with the Shroud, a Grymbrock regiment, Spears, the Chieftain, the other Grymbrock regiment, Centaurs screening for the Druid on foot, Critters and more Spears in the puddle, and the last troop of Grymbrocks in reserve.

Herd on the right. 

I had won the roll for sides, and overall, liked my deployment. I think the characters are placed sensibly, the Great Totem is protected for now, and the only nitpick is two Tribal Spear units awfully close together on the left, but that's fine.

I don’t have Scout moves, but my opponent does, and both Shamblers move up their speed, with one getting into the woods, and one huddling near the building to protect the flank of the bulk of the Elemental line, in the middle of the field.

Scout moves! Always fun.

Winning the roll for turn order, my opponent is really inclined to go second, and hunker down, but I convince him otherwise. Going first is often the right play in Kings of War. He’s got a Shambling army, and really needs to get some early ground, especially with this scenario, and even more so with all my Pathfinder. He’ll take my advice and kick things off for us!

Top of Round 1: Elementals

In reserve, the Scorchwings shuffle around on the left. The Water Elementals move up, blocking for the Greater Air Elemental near the pond. 

The Earth Elementals shamble up, and they get hit with a Surge 5 from the Gladewalker Druid, and lurch ahead, getting about even with the Forest Shamblers in the center, who inch up their speed again in the first movement phase.

The Elementals move up as far as they can.

The Great Water Elemental and accompanying regiment move up, and the Fire Elementals start to cross behind them. This Gladewalker Druid Surges the other Earth Elemental Troop for another strong 5 inches, and it gains a good deal of ground this turn as well. Normally, I am not a fan of blindly surging ahead myself. But I don't really have anything that can punish this, so well played to my opponent to get just a little more ground here!

The Earth Elementals are surged up!

The Air Elemental regiment hangs back projecting threat out into the center, and the Forest Shamblers on the right just continue plodding ahead, making their way around the building.

Bottom of Round 1: Herd

On the right, we want to bully the Forest Shamblers, and we move up to force a fight. The druid lands a hot Barkskin 3 with Commands and her Banner onto the Tribal Spears who move up into the terrain, and are baiting a hindered charge, and the Critters move up, also baiting a hindered charge, and the Great Rock/Totem is able to grant them the Entangling Thorns Command too.

Traps for the Shamblers.

Neither of those units is Inspired, but that is fine. I don't think it likely that the Spears will break, and with Thorns on the Critters, I kind of want them to break. Depending on where and if he goes, we should have some chances to catch the Shamblers in a trap.

Struggling with the hill.

In the center, the hill is a wonderful piece of terrain, just a bit awkward for our regiments. I fastidiously measure off of the Earth Elementals and the Shamblers in the center, with the Herd’s front line staying safe from them. They can't really move precisely here, so we call this good enough.

To the right of the hill, Barkskin 1 graces the Centaurs from the Chieftain, and the Grymbrock Regiment and Troop lurk, waiting to see who will spring the trap against the Shamblers. The mounted Druid lands a Barkskin 1 for the Centaur troop on the left as well, as the Herd center all inches ahead mostly together, struggling a bit with the hill. 

Layers of Herd on the left.

The building splits the line a bit, and on the other side, the Herd is pressing ahead here as well. The Tribal Spears both get up and out of terrain, baiting charges from the Greater Air Elemental and Water Elemental Troop, but stay safe from the Earth Elementals. Ydrin and the Critters stay back, and the Grymbrock Troop lurks.

Top of Round 2: Elementals

The Greater Air smashes into the Spears on the far left, but Phalanx blunts the charge from the flying monster, with 4 damage getting through. Ever-critical of my own play, the Grymbrock troop are probably in for the Greater Air Elemental, and it looks like I left a space for it. That probably would have been a better charge, but I did not see it to suggest it. Additionally, I don't think the Critters are up far enough, and there might be a landing zone into them as well. Or they could be out of range. I don't remember.

Charges on the left.

Additionally, a multi-charge is usually wise, but my opponent wanted to get a feel for how each unit does, so the Water Elementals get a Striding Command via Nature Trails and the nearby Gladewalker, and crash into the other unit of Spears. Phalanx does nothing here, but the dice are cold, and only 1 damage makes it in.

And more charges in the center.

The Earth Elemantals Shamble up, peering around the building, they’ll be surged a few more inches ahead. The Scorchwings flap around to protect the Druid, though I have nothing that can reach him.

Centrally, I was very diligent about measuring from the leading Elemental units, but am apparently in against the Waters. This is half intentional? I thought I was safe, but also made a point not to measure this, to set up a discussion about intentions. I’m just barely in range, and since this was not something I measured and confirmed, they can charge if my opponent wishes to. And he does! My intention with the units was to be uniform, though the hill made this hard. He’s got his choice of targets, and goes in against the Grymbrock regiment. The Greater Water Elemental lands a concerning 9 damage, while the unit contributes 11, and the Grymbrocks will be devastated and routed, as is proper!

Reforms for the Elementals after smashing the Herd center.

Setting everything up and talking thing through, the aggressive Elementals will be threatened by flank charges. Suddenly victorious, the choose to each sidestep to try and mitigate things. The Greater Water only gets and inch, and is still threatened in the flank by the Centaurs, though the regiment sidesteps 3 inches, getting firmly onto the hill and getting the Spears into front arc.

In the rear, the Forest Shamblers exit the woods, and the Fire Elementals move ahead, and will be Surged another 6 inches to get close to the fighting. The Gladewalker Druid hangs back, with the Air Elementals lurking safely behind the building, with it and the Earth Elementals blocking for them.

The Forest Shamblers go in.

On the right, the Forest Shamblers should get a Striding command, and choose to charge the Tribal Spears, though the dice are cold and nothing lands.

Bottom of Round 2: Herd

The Spears push back on the right against the Forest Shamblers, landing nothing. The Druid fails, but the Totem is able to get Strider onto the Grymbrocks, who do have a nice flank charge into the Forest Shamblers. The Grymbrocks land 12 damage, and we’ll break the unit, with the regiment of Spears overrunning, and the troop spinning around to try and help against the Elementals diving my line.

Springing the trap against the Shamblers for a quick win.

The Critters can’t do much, but do flank charge the Earth Elementals, and I Bane Chant them for fun, and just in case. They do land 1 damage, which is fine. They’re just there to get in the way for now.

Centaurs and the Chieftain move ahead so the rest of the Herd can deal with the Water Elementals.    

The Centaur Troop from the right can get in against the Fire Elementals, but not much else can help them, so we turn them into a sacrifice. The Chieftain runs ahead to prevent a bit of a slide down, and grants the Centaurs some Entangling Thorns as they charge out into the fiery regiment. The Centaurs land 4 damage. Boxcars is the result, and they’d still be safe, so we get to deal… 1 extra damage. Oh well, this was a still a good result for teaching.

The sidestepping Water Elemental regiment gets hit in the front by Spears, and the flank by the remaining regiment of Grymbrocks, and are devastated and routed, as is proper. The Spears sidestep to the left, granting some space, and the Grymbrocks will reform.

Reforms for the Herd.

The Centaurs flank charge the Great Air Elemental, and will land 8 damage, which is about as expected  for damage. The mounted Druid gives them the Entangling Thorns command as well, as I want to play around with the order, and see what my opponent will do. The Centaurs are Inspired, and I think they can hold. If the Greater Air turns to face, win-or-lose, it will be in a rough spot. A flank from the Shamblers could easily tip the scales, but the Greater Elemental should still be in trouble. 

I think it's a good plan, and a good test, but another hot Nerve check will ruin it, and will scatter the uninspired Greater Air Elemental. The Centaurs reform to face forward.

The Herd pushes back on the left.

On the left, Critters also get the Entangling Roots command, and flap up and over the building to fight the Earth Elementals. One damage lands, which is pretty good for the stats involved!

The Spears are able to reform and let the Grymbrock troop aid them. Each deals 4 damage, and I’ve got Brutal 2 on the Grymbrocks, but another hot boxcars will scatter the elementals here. The Spears overrun, and the Grymbrocks adjust, threatening the Greater Air Elemental (just barely), and standing by to alternatively fight the Earth Elementals too.

The Herd takes some lucky victories!

It’s close quarters, so Ydrin just supervises, and is the one to bless the Critters over here. The Spears poke at the Greater Air Elemental, landing a strong 5 damage, despite starting the turn engaged.

Top of Round 3: Elementals

The Greater Wind Elemental will slam 9 damage onto the Tribal Spears, taking them up to 13 damage, and will break them, and then overrun to relative safety. Phalanx only works on the charge now, but I thought I might have another turn of holding them up thanks to Ydrin being so close and the Spears being Inspired.

The Greater Air Elemental whooshes past the Herd line.

The Earth Elementals will hit 8 times and smash the delaying Critters to paste, though with the Thorns, the Earth Elementals are stuck.

The Scorchwings bounce.

The Scorchwings start in the pond, and should get a Strider command to mitigate that. My opponent wants to try and stem the Herd's push and go into the Tribal Spears, but I suggest the Centaur troop instead, as the Phalanx of the Spears would hinder the charge, and the troop is far more likely to break, and give him options. They fly in, and land 3 damage onto the Centaurs, who hold. Still good advice from me, I think.

The Shamblers charge the Chieftain, landing 2 damage. Meanwhile, the Fire Elementals land 10 into their troop of Centaurs, break them, and are stuck, thanks to the Herd's thorny Command order.

The Elementals continue to crash into the Herd line.

From the backfield, the Air Elementals and their Hammer whoosh onto the hill to fight the Grymbrock regiment, and will land 9 damage, which looks to be about expected. I keep thinking the Air Elementals hit on 4's, but no, they are on 3's/ We are at least Inspired by the Chieftain, and might actually be covered by the Great Totem as well, and thankfully, we do endure this and hold on. 

The Earth Elementals opt not to reform to fight the Critters, and thump 3 damage onto the scamps, but they hold.

Bottom of Round 3: Herd

The Tribal Spears make use of Pathfinder, and hop out of the pond, ending behind the building with a pivot. They are very clearly scoring for me already, and not threatening to circle back and envelop the Elemental line very soon.

The Critters continue on against the Earth Elementals, landing another damage in their flank, and I think the command order for Thorns for them fails this round. 

With the crises being mostly dealt with, the Grymbrock troop from the right just pivots and moves ahead, getting near the Great Totem to stand ready. The Grymbrock regiment pushes back against the Air Elementals. We cannot use Retaliate, but do get a Barkskin 2 from the Druid with the Banner, as well as a Bane Chant from the same Druid to help with the grind.

The Air Elementals are flanked by the Tribal Spears, and get a Barkskin 1 from the Chieftain, as he lands 3 damage into the Forest Shamblers, who will hold.

The mounted Druid gets a Barkskin 2 onto the Centaurs fighting the Scorchwings, and is able to land the Bane Chant to help the Spears flanking the Air Elementals as well. The duo land 16 damage into the Air Elementals and scatter them. The Centaurs will land a hot 6 damage, but the Scorchwings hold.

Reforms for the Herd, making ready for the Fire Elementals.

The Earth Elementals by the building get charged by the Grymbrocks, but my dice are not as wild as my opponent’s dice, and only manage 2 damage. There is a Brutal 2 involved, but the Earth Elementals hold. 

Tribal Spears spin around to try and deal with the Greater Air Elemental.

Pushing in from the right with a strong lead, the Spears on the left move and pivot twice, spinning around to try and deal with the Greater Air Elemental. 

Even more hot Nerve checks for the Herd...

Trying to pin it down for a turn, and maybe utilize Feint, Ydrin charges the Elemental, takes it up to 8 damage, and then yet another hot check will see yet another uninspired Elemental unit fleeing the field.

Top of Round 4: Elementals

The Earth Elementals slam 2 onto the Grymbrock troop, with Barkskin blanking one of the damage. We hold.

The Scorchwings fight on against the Centaurs, landing 3 damage, though Barkskin blunts 2 of it. The Centaurs go up to 4 damage, but are also still holding for me.

The Herd troops hold.

Hoping to send a message, the Fire Elementals flank the Chieftain, who will be devastated and then routed, as is proper. Reforms are tough though. The Shamblers are pretty safe, and so just spin around to face the Centaurs, and the Fire Elementals reform to get stuff into front arc.

The Chieftain is charged.

The Earth Elementals will smack another 4 onto the Critters, who will break. Since the Command failed last round, the Earth Elementals reform.

The Chieftain and Critters fall.

The Druid with Blizzard moves and flings with cover into the Grymbrocks on the hill, as the Fire Elementals are also on the hill. Two hits blast into … 2 total hits, and unfortunately no damage is actually dealt to the unit. 

My whole meta thinks Blizzard is a touch too strong. I share that view, but don't think it really works amazing with my opponent's list. He could be using it to slow enemy fliers down to make sure his Air Elementals get the charge, or maybe alongside more Scorchwings or the Life Awakening spell, but "just" as a ranged attack spell, it doesn't seem worth it.

Bottom of Round 4: Herd

The Tribal Spears behind the building can get a flank charge into the delaying earth Elementals, and take it, with the Grymbrocks charging into the front of the rocks. The Druid on the hill can see the fight, and lands a Barkskin 1 onto the Grymbrock troop, a Bane Chant onto the flanking Spears, which Manage 9 damage, with the Grymbrocks landing 5, and the unit will be routed.

Multi-charges from the Herd.

The maimed Grymbrock regiment will get a Barkskin 1 to try and stay in the fight just a little longer, and more Tribal Spears will join them with a charge into the Fire Elementals. The Spears poke 4, and the Grymbrocks land 11, and with Brutal 2 in the mix as well, we’ll break this regiment of Elementals.

It’s close quarters, and awkward with the hill, but in victory, the Spears will sidestep to get the Forest Shamblers in front arc, and the extra space will let the Grymbrocks reform slightly.

Strong victories for the Herd in Round 4.

The remaining Centaurs will charge the Scorchwings, and will prevail this turn, and reform to threaten the Forest Shamblers.

On the far left, the Grymbrocks fight on against the Earth Elementals, but have no TC, and Retaliate doesn’t trigger against just the one unit. The Unicorn druid swings around the try and help with a Bane Chant, but it fizzles, and no damage at all connects. The Druid does land an Entangling Thorns command though, and the Tribal Spears will back up and pivot, putting themselves into the flank of the Earth Elementals. We should be able to deal with them next turn.

The Grymbrocks push back, but Def6 is still Def6.

Ydrin doesn’t have too much to do. Since the Grymbrocks are wider than the Elementals, I can’t get him into the fight here, so he’s supervising again, but staying close. Next turn he might have a charge into the Gladewalker, or reposition to hunt, and between him and the mounted Druid, we should be able to get Strider, and hopefully a Bane Cant, onto the Tribal Spears to help break the Earth Elementals.

Top of Round 5: Elementals

On the left, the Earth Elementals slug the Grymbrock troop. A Gladewalker Druid commands them to rampage, getting two success on the dice, while also landing a Heal 2 in the ranged phase. The Elementals will land 4 damage to the Grymbrocks, and take them up to 5 damage total. It is just a troop fight, but the Grymbrocks are rather stalwart, and they do hold. 

The Elementals fail to break out.

The Forest Shamblers opt to change facing, spinning around, and will then be Surged into the injured Centaurs. A Druid commands them to rampage, getting 2 successful dice for another Rampage 4, but Kenny’s dice are forever inconsistent, and no damage lands here, and with the Centaurs holding strong, the Shamblers have Tribal Spears eyeing their flank. 

Bottom of Round 5: Herd

I like rolling dice as much as the next wargamer, but this is over. The Herd have multi-charges into everything left opposing us, and I think  even the Spears on the hill can hit the flank of the Forest Shamblers too. And if that wasn’t dire enough, we have enough units to spare that we can probably just park them for the victory without actually caring about how the combats even go. 

We’ll call it here, so we have more time to chat. We’ve both had a lot of fun, and learned a lot, and this is a strong victory to the Herd!

Game Conclusions

My opponent and his Elementals had some very strong plays, but erratic dice and a lack of Inspiring for their pushes ended up biting them. The Herd had some lucky dice to swiftly break those uninspired Elementals, but were really able to leverage their advantage in drops, US, and Champions/ Commands for the win here. 

Testing Conclusions

• Chieftain. Getting hamstrung and dropping to 6 attacks is indeed rough for his combat prowess, and it’s a bummer than an upstart like Ydrin has 7 attacks too! The Chieftain is still fun and strong, but far more of a niche pick now. 
• Druid on Foot, Banner, BC, Heal. Druids continue to be a very strong choice for Champions, in my opinion. This is a fine kit as well. Running some “Intern” Druids of his own was probably my opponent’s biggest takeaway from our game. They are customizable with their spells, and can provide a lot of versatility with our new Command Orders.
• Mounted Druid, BC, Big Heal. This kit is fine as well, though I don’t think I really got to cast the larger heal at all – Bane Chant and pressing the attack felt far more important all game.
• Ydrin Thorncreeper. He mostly supervised this game, but did get a lucky break on the Greater Air Elemental in his only fight. Combat individuals are still nice for dealing with fliers and line-hopping! Not the most expansive test for him, but an ok start. Not needing the Chieftain to run the Herd anymore is nice, and he could see play as a cheaper alternative.
• Tribal Spears. They mostly took up space, and provided a smidge of extra muscle and Nerve across the battlefield, but that is perfectly fine for a Core unit! This was a decent return game for them. Having a few extra attacks was nice, and Phalanx did mess with some fliers even! Mass regiments is probably not the way to go long-term with the army, but it did give me some good flexibility here with the MMU play.
• Critters. Well, even bad chaff is better than no chaff I suppose? At least that was my takeaway here with them. They each battled Earth Elementals for several turns, and just keeping the more useful and more expensive Elementals out of fights was valuable for me, letting the rest of the Herd list isolate and brawl against the other units. Yeah, these did just fine for me.
• Centaur Bray Striders. These were fine as well. These aren’t full cavalry, but do feel more unique and useful than they have been previously. Crushing Strength was nice and noticeable in the grinds, and with the extra Speed, I felt like they did pair nicely with the new delaying Commands, like Entanglement of Thorns. 
• Grymbrocks. While I noted it in the report, I completely forgot about Brutal 2 throughout the entire game. That’s a pretty nice boon. Retaliate is unfortunately apparently still busted in a bad way, but these indeed gave me some nice insights for cavalry. While the fliers did outrange us, we were mostly able to keep these back and well-protected for some nice counter-punching. I’ve tried using cavalry like this before, but don’t think I gave them enough instigating units previously. Overall, like any TC-reliant unit, the charges were fine, but the grind is still a bummer.
• Great Totem. I lucked out with where the Air Elementals started, and was able to safely drop this down behind the building. While my opponent got first turn, he wasn’t able to really devote time to battling the rock. I managed to drop it in a place to score for the scenario, and it was able to issue a few commands even! I forgot about Rally though the math swung hard in both directions that it wouldn’t have changed anything, and I remembered Vicious about half the time. It definitely takes some extra thought to use, but this was a great debut for this super-fun pick!
• Elementals and other Traits. I’ve previously noted just how much was going on in the initial Forces of Nature list, with Herd, Brotherhood, Verdant, and Elementals are vying for attention in the original roster. Verdant stuff has now been rolled up into just Elementals, which makes things easier, and makes sense given that we only have a few units of woody things now. I really liked seeing the assorted Elementals at work, and was really impressed by the Water and Air Elementals in all forms. I’m trying not to add too much to my existing collections right now, but a few of these might be fun to try out, and the Greater Water Elemental is such a fun looking model too, with the broken keel and such around the spine. It was just great to see these models all on the table, and my opponent's enthusiasm and optimism for the game was infectious!

The “mirror” match was indeed neat to see here. I loved seeing all the Elementals on the table and working together! Having both of us working through the “same” new army was fun, and we both learned a lot, though the end result was unfortunately a bit one-sided. We’ll see if the Elementals can acquire some new interns, and I hope we can see them all across the table again soon! Thanks for the game, Kenny!