Intro and Lists
Our first game took way longer than expected, so I must thank my opponent for fitting in a second game. We were out at a shop, so for the immediate rematch we kept the same armies but had each brought a second list to play for the second game. This has become the norm for our tiny Southeastish Wisconsin meta and I really like it, as I am not a good optimizer of lists, and this approach lets me compare things a bit easier. And I say all that, but in this case my opponent actually abandoned his second list, to explore the double fliers idea again!
So, it is the list is the same as Battle 022. The list has two mighty Clan Lords on Fire Drakes, one with the Brew of Sharpness and the other with Blessing of the Gods to help with all their attacks. These are supported by two Rhinosaur Cavalry hordes with Boots of Striding and the Helm of the Drunken Ram. These four are the "problem units" which I will need to try and deal with.
For magic he brought an Ancient Phoenix to heal, a Mage Priest for Heal & Fireball, and second Mage Priest for Fireball & Bane Chant. These magic would be supporting the various heavy infantry regiments: two Ancients, one Ceremonial Guard, and one Primes, all with a variety of upgrades and items. We didn't catch that the Dwarven Ale has a dud interaction with the Fearless Ancients (since they can't be wavered). It obviously never came up in-game, so that whoopsies in list-creation persists into this game. (Thanks to Boss_Salvage out on the forum for pointing that out. If you are visiting here, you should also consider checking out his Bloodfire blog, linked here and as well as over in the "Other Cool Blogs" section on the right-hand side of the screen.)
For ease of travel and to hopefully learn a bit more about the Varangur a bit quicker, I brought basically the exact same list too, just juggling a few items and swapping out the more direct Frostfangs for the more skill-demanding Fallen. As with the game earlier in the day, everything is up to test still, since this is still a very new army for me:
- Draugr. The zombies return for the rematch to take hits and help with scenario play. How will they do this game? Will any survive? Will any score any scenario points?
- Huscarls. These should be about on par with the newer (nerfed) Undead Soul Reavers, so should have potential if I can keep them alive to fight something important. Will they do so?
- Mounted Sons. I still like the concept of CS on a cavalry unit. How will this cavalry unit do when they don't get the charge? Are these worth giving a Brutal or Stealthy mark to?
- Fallen. With Pathfinder but only CS1, these seem like they have a high skill ceiling, rewarding flanks and great positioning. Will they flank anything? How will they do?
- Magus Conclaves. They return, and I'll try some more focus-firing. Will they rout anything this game, or will all their damage be healed away again?
- Snow Foxes. These are quick and can chaff very well. Will they die with meaning, or be thrown away with poor decisions on my part? Do I think I brought too many, not enough, or just right?
- Magnilde. Usually reliable, how will Magnilde do this game? When will I pop the fly, and what will she fight this time?
- Lords on Frostfang. I still feel like I am using these badly. Will they get flank charges this turn? Will I use Nimble? Or will these be little road blocks offered up like usual?
Going into the second game, nothing really changes since we didn't really switch up lists as drastically as we (especially I) usually would. My opponent still has a better number of high quality of units, as is typical for his builds. I had more chaff, more drops, and (slightly) more unit strength overall. I didn't gain any big insight into fighting his list, so my general approach remained the same. I thought I had a decently balanced list, so I felt that if I could use my chaff well and focused on the scenario, I had a shot at winning our rematch here.
Table, Deployment and Scenario
For the rematch, I just shuffled the existing terrain around into a new configuration, largely just taking a piece of terrain and swapping it with another already on the table. The spread looked good enough for my opponent, so off we went. The rocks were still Height 9 Blocking Terrain, the forests still height 6 Difficult Terrain, and the hills still height 3. With the same table, we again eschewed fences and lower-height difficult terrain to see how a game without them went. As we deployed, we realized things were a little tighter than before, and ended up with a bit of a ridge of blocking terrain. Since we continued to accidentally bump things we agreed that the paths between blocking terrain should be wide enough to accommodate any of our units. This "worked" as the biggest units (Rhinosaur Cavalry) were large infantry. Had we been using any infantry hordes, this table would have been pretty unacceptable. We considered removing one of the 4 rocks as we were setting up, be settled on the gentleman's agreement for passing through instead.
We picked Loot for our rematch. I have not quite made my way through all the normal scenarios yet, but I have been just absolutely terrible at remembering to pick up Loot Tokens when we roll up those scenarios, so we went with this scenario on purpose to try and get the concept through our heads.
I was doing too many things at the time and forgot to take pictures of the deployment. That's easier to get into with pictures, so we will cover that in a moment. My opponent won the roll off, and after some thought, opted to have me go first.
Top of Round 1: Varangur
I was expecting my opponent to drop all the "problem units" on my left, which was more open on his side. In reality, my opponent split his forces into a long, mirrored pincer. A unit of Rhinosaurs and a Clan Lord each took a flank. The Ancient Phoenix took the center, hiding behind rocks again to mitigate it being "popped" by early shooting as has happened in other games he has played. The Salamander infantry are again in two groups. On my left are Ancients with the Brew of Healing and Ceremonial Guard and the healing Mage Priest. On my right are Ancients and the Salamander Primes with the Mage Priest with Bane Chant.
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| The view from the left. You can see the problematic ridge line rather prominently here. Three in a row. |
Since I was expecting the problem units on the left, my plan was to mostly ignore the left. With all the impassable terrain, I realized in deployment that I could block up the passes with speedy Snow Foxes. That wouldn't stop a flying Clan Lord, but if I could delay the Rhinosaurs and such here, I thought my main forces should hopefully win on the other side of the table and claim those two Loot Tokens. With my opponent splitting/mirroring his forces, the plan of ignoring the left persists though, I just have more things to fight here.
So, out on my left, we have just two Snow Foxes and one Draugr unit, all dropped very early. One unit of Foxes stayed put while the second unit with the Draugr popped up to plug the gap and threaten the loot token, should my opponent ignore it.
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| The center, with the Snow Foxes grabbing the Loot Token very early. |
In the approximate center of the field we have some adventurous Snow Foxes, who run up and grab the Loot Token. Huscarls that were angled to move at the double towards the center, a Lord on Frostfang, and Draugr bringing up the rear. I wanted to get the fighty units fighting here, so the Draugr could hopefully grab the loot tokens.
In the center of my main line were my three Conclaves, who had all deployed in the forest. Seeing wher my opponent was placing his infantry, I figured I'd try to shoot them up this time, and hoped the lower Nerve on the infantry regiments would help me rout some Salamander units. As it would happen, this side did not get the healing Mage Priest, so I might be able to out damage the heals. Everything moved up this turn, and the Conclaves focused fire on something (I think the Ancients on the right?), dealing a total of 1 damage, which isn't a great start.
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| The opening moves on the right. |
On my right, we have Mounted Sons, the Fallen, and the other Lord on Frostfang. A small woods broke the line up, with Magnilde, Draugr and Mounted Sons. The Rhinosaurs have the Boots, so the forest isn't as big a deal, but I still tried to anchor my line a bit, as I was hoping it would dissuade the Clan Lord still from getting too far ahead.
Bottom of Round 1: Salamanders
If you couldn't tell from the picture, the Salamanders moved up! Unfortunately, I only took the one picture this round, so had to use it.
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| A tour at warp speed of the battlefield. (Sorry!) |
On the left, both the Rhinosaurs and Clan Lord went at the double, and while touching it, my opponent decides not to pick up the token with the Rhinosaurs. The Salamander infantry on my left started to slowly swing around. The infantry on the right awkwardly shuffle about and are still stacked up. Given my edge in ranged attacks with the Conclaves and this small stack, I was really expecting my opponent to go first, to fix the stack and rob me of a round of shooting. The Phoenix should heal whatever damage the Conclaves did. On the right, the Rhinosaurs and Clan Lord respect the charge distances and advance only cautiously.
Top of Round 2: Varangur
On the right, my Draugr again move up with the Mounted Sons in tow, looking to press the issue next turn. I keep my Fallen back, to not give the Clan Lord an easy flank or an out. Magnilde and the Lord on Frostfang also hang back.
I have two mistakes here. The first is with the Lord. The forest is Height 6, so unless something lands in the forest, he's not going to be able to see it. Moving him over to the other side of the Fallen for a better field of view would have probably been a better call here. The second is the positioning of the Mounted Sons and Draugr when trying to box my opponent in on this flank. Given the width of the units, I need to leave a 25mm corner "open" and since they are they are flush on the far side, the open corner is towards the middle of the table. This should be reversed, because currently, the Clan Lord can fit and hit the Mounted Sons. The other alternative would be to hold my stack back an inch or so, forcing the Clan Lord to land partially in the forest, should he take the charge given. Unfortunately I did neither, so this is definitely an error on my part, and worth pointing out.
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| My opponent was using the dice to mark my charge threats, for his movements. I have since moved up a bit, and we should be fighting soon! |
The Conclaves shoot into the Ceremonial Guard just left of the rocky outcropping, and with the weaker defense, a few damage should land. The Snow Foxes are carrying loot now, and so pivot and move 5". I am again about 9" away from the nearest Salamander unit, and even though I do shoot at them this turn, I think they are Speed 4 Ancients and am really pleased with myself. At the time I considered this an error, but in retrospect... it's not as bad. The Foxes lost Nimble and were reduced to Speed 5, so they did what they could to get away.
Out on the left of my line, the Huscarls, Draugr and Lord on Frostfang all move up, looking to fight the left group of Salamander infantry soon.
Bottom of Round 2: Salamanders
After some waffling, my opponent decides to take the rear charge into the Snow Foxes, routing them, but I don't recall what they did with the loot token. I think they pick it up, and in victory they will turn to get the Huscarls and Lord on Frostfang into their front arc. With the spacing, my Huscarls are pinched by the terrain, and can only charge into the Ceremonial Guard next turn.
The nearby Ancients advance up a bit as well, and are safe from the Huscarls. Their final positioning turns out to be a mistake from my opponent though. We had been going from the bases for checking the blocking terrain, but even if we were going from the upwards terrain... the Ancients are way too close and will not be able to pivot through the terrain to actually do anything next turn. The Ancient could have side-stepped or something to make way for the Primes if needed, but in the coming turn they are simply too far forward. We didn't catch this until my opponent went to physically move them next turn and... found he could not.
As mentioned, I have a similar issue with the Huscarls, but it is far better for me as my flank is to the blocking terrain, not my front, and I can move forward and also have room to easily pivot. I think the general lessons here would be to just not get too close to terrain. Especially when trying to zone out a deeper unit like a regiment, you have more room than you think most of the time.
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| The Ceremonial Guard charge! It's a bit of a mess here with combats and blocking terrain. |
My opponent measures out a nice landing pad for the Clan Lord on the corner of my Mounted Sons, but ultimately decides not to take it. Fresh from dealing 2 damage with the Clan Lord against the same unit previously, and himself disliking the corner-to-corner type charges, decides not to do this. Design-wise, this nit-picking of an enemy line seems what fliers are made for in more competitive games, so I must commend my opponent for having consistency and integrity here.
The Clan Lord pivots and moves slightly to prevent and flank charges from me, and hits the Mounted Sons with a Firebreath for 3 damage, with the Rhinosaurs giving cover as I recall. The Rhinosaurs charge the Draugr, rout them and overrun towards the Mounted Sons.
I don't remember what the Phoenix did. I think it and the Mage Priest on the left got some heals off onto the Ceremonial Guard, though I don't have a note on how much was healed. It wasn't to full in any event. The Mage Priest on my right gets a Bane Chant off on the Ancients for show.
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| I believe the Salamanders should win this fight. |
Out on the left, the Rhinosaurs charge and crush the blocking Snow Foxes, and the Clan Lord flies alongside the Draugr, roasting them for 5 with a Firebreath attack. I forget to Iron Resolve them down to 4, not that it should ultimately matter.
Top of Round 3: Varangur
Going into turn 3, all I had lost were two units of Snow Foxes, so generally I was feeling ok, despite having not taken anything from my opponent yet. We were close enough that I could start to make some charges now myself!
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| An overview of the main combats and two of the three Loot Tokens, prior to movement. |
Even with the overrun, I can arguably still see the back corner of the Rhinosaur Cavalry near the edge with my Fallen, but since things get bumped, taking that seemed unsportsmanlike. The Fallen go into the Clan Lord instead, rolling well and getting a lucky Waver on it with a high Nerve check. Meanwhile the Mounted Sons go into the Rhinosaurs alone, dishing out a meager 6 damage as I recall, and I roll up Insane Courage for the Rhinosaurs to boot.
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| Small combats break out across this side of the board, with most things going my way, to my surprise. |
Magnilde and the Lord on Frostfang go into the front of the primes, and I think deal 9 damage total, and then do get the lucky rout. Magnilde overruns while the Lord eyes up the flanks of the Ancient Phoenix and the Ancients, who take a nice charge from the Mounted Sons but hold.
The Conclaves all fire into the Phoenix, as it is the only thing that can see to shoot at. Damage is done, and it's a decent amount, but it feels so very immaterial. With such a high regen you can't really hit that with any chip damage, and it will regen most of it back in the coming turns.
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| More combats, and more clutch routs here. The Varangur have a distinct edge now. |
Near the center, the Huscarls and Lord charge the Ceremonial Guard, with Phalanx frustrating the Lord a bit. Still, the Huscarls do their thing, and the Varangur rout this regiment as well. The Lord turns to face the Ancients the other Lord was looking at, and the Huscarls turn to face the Ancients nearby.
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| A damage tracker appears on the Rhinosaurs! Good job Draugr. |
Oh, and the Draugr counter-charge the Rhinosaurs, dealing at least one damage to them and disordering the terrifying cavalry unit. It's not much, but the Rhinosaurs will be disordered next turn. All in all, this was a very powerful turn for the Varangur!
Bottom of Round 3: Salamanders
We find out about the roadblocked Ancients this turn. They just reposition, ready to take a Huscarl charge next turn. The nearby Mage Priest should throw a fireball into the armored warriors, taking them up to 3 damage.
The other Ancients counter-charge into the Mounted Sons, slip four damage in, and waver them with a lucky boxcars for the Nerve check. That is unfortunate, but after my last turn I cannot complain.
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| The Ancients waver the Mounted Sons... but will it be enough? |
The Ancient Phoenix flies over, hurting and healing with its auras, and tossing a heal on something, probably the Clan Lord. The Rhinosaurs here are disordered, but roll blisteringly hot, dealing 10+ damage to the Mounted Sons and swiping them off the field since they were uninspired. The Rhinosaur Cavalry are just unreal.
The Clan Lord on the right is wavered, and opts to do nothing.
Top of Round 4: Varangur
It is turning out to be another very violent game! The bloodletting continues on my turn. The Huscarls go into the Ancients while some Snow Foxes hit them in the rear. Defense 6 on the Ancients save them from 6 damage from the Huscarls since I roll a lot of 3's to wound. The Snow Foxes get 30 attacks in the rear, and should have Thunderous Charge since they are coming off the hill, but I forget to account for that. The Ancients take some respectable damage and should end up at 10 damage or so, but hold.
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| Two unclaimed Loot Tokens, just sitting there. And see? Weird spot for the Clan Lord to end up. |
The nearby Draugr turn to eye up the Loot Token nearby, but more importantly, take up space. The Conclaves will conga up near them, blocking charges to anything but the Draugr. With the towering height of the Clan Lord, all the Conclaves should all be able to see him, and about 6 damage is done with the magical volley. With no heals around this side of the table for him, that damage should stick around, giving me a slim chance to eventually deal with that unit.
The wavered Mounted Sons will disengage and change facing towards the table edge, to threaten the Rhinosaurs in the future, while the two Lords on Frostfang go into the flanks of the Ceremonial Guard, dodging the spears in the front and destroying them utterly. Each will wheel about in victory towards opposite ends of the table. Meanwhile Magnilde goes into the Ancient Phoenix again, looking to disorder it and stop its spellcasting.
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| The Fallen strike and struggle against the Clan Lord. |
The Fallen hit the Clan Lord Again, and waver him again, though it's easier this time. I was really hoping to rout him though. Unfortunately now, the flank of the Fallen is open to the Rhinosaur Cavalry, so they are not long for this world. That's unfortunate, but "stunning" the Lord for two turns has been worth it in the grand scheme of things I think.
Bottom of Round 4: Salamanders
The Rhinosaur Cavalry take their charge, and easily tear through the flank of the Fallen. The Ancient Phoenix is in another slap fight with Magnilde, but the damage is a little more even this time, and with combats abound, stopping the spells of the Phoenix is important. The nearby Mage Priest throws a Fireball into the nearby Mounted Sons, dealing 3 damage and taking them up to 7 damage.
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| The Mounted Sons are scorched, but thankfully not disordered! |
The sharp Clan Lord is wavered, but saved, and does nothing. The other (on the left) goes into the flank of the Draugr - it's only charge - and shreds the zombies.
Still out on the left, the Rhinosaurs back up to grab the Loot Token now. They are essentially out of the game, but safe and scoring for the scenario.
Top of Round 5: Varangur
The Huscarls and Snow Foxes smush the Ancients, and will fell them this turn. The Huscarls wheel about to face a Clan Lord as it duels with the Lord on Frostfang. The Lord on Frostfang goes in, lands some hits, but this Clan Lord holds.
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| More Salamanders fall, as we both eye up the yet-unclaimed Loot Tokens. |
I repeat the move with my other Lord on Frostfang and the other Clan Lord on Fire Drake. This Clan Lord is not so lucky after being stunned a few times, and is cut down. My Lord on Frostfang turns to face the Rhinosaurs, who are taking a charge from the wounded Mounted Sons. It's a clear charge, and having taken some damage already, the terrifying cavalry unit is swept from the field.
The Conclaves turn, and fire into the plucky Mage Priest. As an individual, he's a little harder to hit, but some damage sticks, and the caster is wavered.
Bottom of Round 5: Salamanders
That was the last picture I had. I can't remember if any dice were rolled this turn. The isolated Rhinosaurs on the left have secured a Loot Token, but other than that, it looks pretty bleak for the Salamanders.
Win-or-lose against my Lord on Frostfang, the Clan Lord will be taking a bit hit from the Huscarls next turn, with the Snow Foxes moving to grab the Loot Token. The only other scoring unit the Salamanders have is the Phoenix, who is about to get rear-charged next turn by my other Lord on Frostfang, or flank charged by the Mounted Sons, with whatever unit that doesn't charge grabbing the third and final Loot Token at the start of round 6, making a Salamander comeback unlikely.
We call it here, deciding the writing is on the wall for the Salamanders, and giving the Varangur a very bloody victory!
Game Conclusions
Terrain was unfortunately a hurdle this game. I think the amount of terrain was ok, but 1-2 pieces of the blocking rocks needed to be something else, some kind of difficult terrain like a forest, or smaller cornfield, or a Height 0 pond or something. Four pieces of blocking terrain just turned out to be a bit too much, and all of them in a row ultimately was not a great idea. I think if either of us had infantry hordes, this table would be unacceptable, and it only "worked" due to our lists.
I think it might have been a mistake to let me go first. Even though the ranged volley wasn't decisive (just one damage, which was immediate healed), I was able to pen my opponent in a bit by getting the first turn and moving up with a number of relatively fast units. Against any list with multiple pieces of artillery, I think going first is just a good default choice.
My opponent typically doesn't split up the Rhinosaurs, and was hesitant to do so, but I think it was the right call for the list. Separating fliers, especially heavy fliers like these really messes with an opponent, and there are a lot of angles to watch. With a second Clan Lord, I think this split was the opening right play, but wrong execution as the scenario unfolded. Committing both the Rhinosaur and Clan Lord to fighting Draugr and Snow Foxes was a mistake. I was happy to have all that unfold, given the massive points difference; my opponent was committing a ton to fight just chaff. Committing just the Rhinosaurs to fight and claim that Loot Token would have been the better play I think, with the Clan Lord spending a few turns to fly over to the other side and arriving sooner. The Rhinosaurs have tened to charge out to fight against different targets usually, so I would encourage him to try another split in the future, or alternating between the Rhino/Flier and infantry block if he doesn't want to do a pincer.
I would like to highlight my opponent's diligent use of the breath attacks from the heavy fliers in both games. I don't think many players to this, preferring to get into combat quickly with their expensive centerpieces, but I think this patient approach is better, as fliers are harder and harder to deal with as the game goes on. In each game we played, the Clan Lords got some minor damage in before they charged, squeezing a little more value out of them, so well-played there.
For my own play, I think I had a decent plan for the scenario, and focusing on just two of the tokens seems like a good idea. You don't need to hold all, just a majority. I played a little sloppy out on my far right flank, but things generally worked out well for me as the game progressed. Nothing in those combats felt incredibly "spikey" for results, it was just the function of running quality units. The dice had some swings, but not nearly as drastic as last game, and ultimately I had a little more break for me and I was able to take the win here.
Testing Conclusions
- Draugr. Non survived, but that's ok! In this game they took the beatings I needed them to in order to delay some things and rout other things, so they definitely did their part. I forgot about Iron Resolve again, and will need to remind myself of that in the future. With their slow speed I think you want them alongside an infantry list, but I think 1-2 of these should be at least considered in most lists though - it's got good Nerve and good utility for a very cheap cost.
- Huscarls. These did better this game. I think the trick is realizing that they are an infantry regiment. Give them one task/target, and anything else you get out of them is gravy. As infantry, I think they play well with Draugr, so we'll try to play around with those interactions more.
- Mounted Sons. I gave them both the Brutal upgrade this game, but completely forgot about it when I went to do any of the Nerve checks! I wouldn't have made a difference, but forgetting rules isn't good. They rolled a little too cool on Round 3 against the Rhinosaurs for my liking... but that'll happen. Overall these had highs and lows but felt like were performing well for me throughout the day. Having a few units to project those longer charges out was a great asset for the list and these seem like solid performers.
- Fallen. They rolled a little hot, then a little cold, but still managed two Wavers against the sharp and scary Clan Lord, so they had a good outing. I think you'll still want to think of these more like monsters, and really aim to outmaneuver the enemy and get those later flank charges... but as-is and charging up the middle they did ok and should be worth testing out some more.
- Magus Conclaves. They really had to utilize move and shoot this game, but did ok after the first volley. Heals didn't play as big a role in the rematch, so they felt like they were doing more here. Writing up the reports, I started wondering if spreading them might have been a good idea to try and combat the healing of the Salamanders? These were fun and I really like that they can move, so we'll likely play around with them some more as well.
- Snow Foxes. Similar to the Draugr, these also did ok. One drew out the Ceremonial Guard; one delayed some Rhinosaurs, and one swung around to try and help out in the late game. Nothing crazy for chaff, but yeah, these did ok. I'm not sure on the number of units. Three was feeling like too much, so I might try a little less chaff next time the Varangur hit the table.
- Magnilde. I did not actually pop the fly this game - she got into the back lines just fine on her own. And I think I mostly remembered Iron Resolve for her. She did well, and while she still ended up slap-fighting the Phoenix, that felt more constructive this time, as I was fighting other units and stopping those heals mattered more. So yeah, she's still nice to have around!
- Lords on Frostfang. They did get flank charges this game! I think Nimble is the rule I need to zero in on when using them. In Round 3, if the Conclaves back up to give a lane, I think I actually have a crazy charge around the Ceremonial Guard and into the flank of the Ancients. I'm not sure that would be the right call tactically, but recognizing those kinds of charges, especially into flanks would make the Lords much more potent I think. So, I would say that I used them better this game, but need to focus on seeing and making Nimble charges in the future to get good use out of the unit, as they are pretty expensive.
It was a longer gaming day than either of us were expecting, so again many thanks to my opponent for sticking with it and fitting in two great games with me. The year is off to a good start for my gaming!
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