Kings of War 3rd Edition: #028: Varangur vs Salamanders [Dominate]

Intro and Lists:

I was able to spend a wonderful afternoon rolling lots of dice in Milwaukee. I got two games in against some elite Salamander lists! For the first game, my opponent ran a variation on an older list of his, which was playing around with Fire Elementals. He ran the following:

I think he ran something similar in one of our the summer games (looks like Battle 016). As-ever, he's running a very compact list with a lot of very tanky units. The crazed Tyrants are the only "squishy" thing in his list. A Prime Horde supported by Ceremonial Guard Regiments should be hard to dislodge, and the shambling elementals look to have adequate Surge support. Being a take on an older list, Pale Rider returns, and the very sharp Clan Lord on Fire Drake and his Rhinosaur support units, as ever, are still around to do the killing that needs to be done.

I brought brought two very different lists for the day's games. I've run the Snow Foxes and Magnilde a few times already, and they are becoming pretty known quantities at this point. I should hopefully be able to to use them well. The rest of the list (around 80% of the points!) leans very heavily into the Varangur's strong and varied infantry options. It's an unusual list for me, and with slower units and the most to test, I wanted to play it first. Up to test are:

• Draugr. The intriguing, non-Shambling zombies make their return! I want to use them as blockers and chaff and objective-holders and my hypothesis is that they will work best with an infantry-focused army, where their slower speed shouldn't be as noticeable. We'll see what we get for the scenario and how they actually do.
• Night Raiders. I played against them in a demo game, but didn't get a good feel for them. They have a neat mix of special rules and stats, but once they get into a sustained combat their effectiveness should drop off precipitously. I don't think they can take much of a hit, so I think positioning will be very important to get the most out of them. We'll see what I come up with.
• Huscarls. I want to get a better feel for them before doling out magic items, but the elite infantry of the Varnagur (and Northern Alliance too, I suppose) are prime candidates for some items, and two units make a showing here. They should be able to put the hurt on anything they can catch, but we'll see how they do. They will likely need support to perform well.
• Cavern Dwellers. I'm not sure if these have ever seen the table? Definitely not in 3rd. These are roughly comparable to the Chroneas from the Abyssals, being a 50mm mini-giant, for lack of a better descriptor. The hope is that these pair well with the slower infantry, but we'll see how it all works together.
• Skald with Lute. I wanted more sources of Inspiring and recently painted him up, so we'll give him a try. The Lute should be a great item, especially in this match up. With so much Def5 across from me, even the Huscarls can probably benefit from a Bane Chant.
• Thegns on Frostfangs. My Lords have been rolling poorly and failing to do damage, and I have also not used them well to get those tricky nimble charges in. As Thegns they should still be able to threaten a couple of damage on anything and be able to apply some pressure, but the demotion should save me some points, and let me focus on positioning and basics of using such a unit.
• Kruufnir. With the I points saved from demoting the Lords to Thegns, I was able to afford a troll for the list, which should give me 5 sources of Inspiring - several more sources than usual for this army. Running the legendary version of the troll is just for fun - I'm not sure if a d3 Wild Charge and Rampage is really worth the extra points, but we'll see how the deluxe version works first!

I had extra drops and extra unit strength relative to the Salamanders, so I was feeling ok going into the game. I had a good amount of chaff too, so I figured if I could use the chaff well, and if I focused on the scenario, I should be able to win.

Table and Deployment

We generated a table, got Domination for a scenario, and then got down to it. There was only one free table at the shop when we arrived, which was set up with the old Citadel hard plastic battle board. We chose to ignore the topography and treat the board's hills as open terrain. Hills were Height 3, Graveyards Height 1 Difficult Terrain, Buildings Height 9 Blocking, Fences Height 2 Obstacles, and Forests were Height 6 Difficult Terrain. All typical stuff. 

View from the center, and of all the Salamander units.

My opponent deployed pretty centrally. From my left-to-right we have Rhinosaurs with the Helm, Clan Lord, Rhinosaurs with the Boots, Fire Elementals screening the Herald, Primes, Ancients screening the Mage, the Greater Fire Elemental, the Pale Rider, and finally the Tyrants.

As the Rhinos came down, so did Kruufnir and the nearby Thegn for me. I deployed the Draugr early, keeping the Cavern Dwellers, Night Raiders, and some Snow Foxes for my last drops. 

There seem to be more blurry shots than usual. I apologize in advance.
This is my left flank, in case you couldn't tell.

Left to right for me we have Draugr angled in the corner, Snow Foxes, both Cavern Dwellers, more Snow Foxes, the Thegn and Kruufnir, Draugr screening the Skald, both Huscarls, Magnilde, more Draugr, still more Snow Foxes. Then out on the far right, we have the second Thegn, and both Night Raider units.

Varangur on the right.

With the scenario being Dominate, I was quite happy to plop down my Huscarls centrally. Each has a Draugr unit to block for them, so I was hopeful they would be able to massacre things. I wasn't sure how the Night Raiders would do, but delaying them to get the Tyrant match-up seemed like a decent idea. I also wasn't sure how the Cavern Dwellers would fare against the heavy flank of the Salamander line, but with some Snow Foxes, I was hoping to box things out long enough to wind some fights of attrition. My opponent won the roll-off and elected for me to go first. 

Top of Round 1: Varangur:

We don't score until the end, so I advance pretty cautiously all around. On the left, things respect charge distances, moving up, but hoping to draw my opponent out a bit before any really important fighting commences. Only the Draugr here, who were deployed at an angle, move at the double, looking to make up for their slower speed. They were a chaffy, early drop and I don't have a great plan for them other than to start moving towards the center.

Pretty cautious moves on the left.

The Center moves up their speeds. The Huscarls get an inch ahead of the slower Draugr. My zombies are going to be slowed by terrain, and facing off against mostly infantry, with nothing in danger of being charged right now, I am fine with taking things slow here.

The right was a little quicker, with the Night Raiders moving pretty far.

On my right, the Tyrants aren't that fast, and are stymied by the terrain, so the Night Raiders move mostly at the double, but opt to still respect the longer wild charge distance of the Tyrants.

Bottom of Round 1: Salamanders:

On the right, I forgot that the Pale Rider had a ranged attack! A few damage are snuck onto the stealthy Snow Foxes. While they are accidentally just within range to be Inspired by the Thegn, it isn't enough, and they are burned away with a good roll for the Nerve check. The Tyrants have quite the situation ahead of them with an obstacle in front of the Graveyard, and they start hopping over things and towards the enemy.

We used an app. The fenced yard seems a bit silly.

The center moves up as well. As do the powerful units my opponent has out on my left flank. The Rhinosaurs, along with everything else, dance around charge distances.

Top of Round 2: Varangur:

The building over on the left is isolating the Clan Lord and one Rhinosaur unit a bit, so the Snow Foxes press the issue, getting right in front of the Rhinosaurs. Both Cavern Dwellers pull up behind the Foxes, with the fuzzy screening unit protecting them from any charge from the flying Clan Lord.

The second unit of Foxes blocks the second unit of Rhinosaurs, penning them in and allowing the Thegn and Kruufnir to move up as well. 

In the center, everything creeps up. The Draugr move up out of the terrain pieces and the Huscarls slow down, letting the zombies get ahead again.

On the right, both of the Night Raiders move and throw into the Tyrants, scoring a few damage. The Thegn hangs back a bit, avoiding a charge next turn but threatening his own if the Salamanders move up at all.

Bottom of Round 2: Salamanders:

The Tyrants and Pale Rider are able to catch a unit of Night Raiders, easily dispatching them. I wanted this match up, but didn't consider the charge range of the Tyrants when deploying. I suppose I could have played this more cagey? The unit near the table edge is actually out of the charge arc of the Tyrants, so that may have been a possibility, at least for a turn. The Pale Rider overruns and the Tyrants back off for their victory moves.

The Salamanders are the first to charge.

In the center, the Greater Fire Elemental slams into the plucky Draugr, dealing a surprising 6 damage from 8 attacks. The Nerve check is just shy of routing the zombies, and they will heal 1 back from Iron Resolve. I thought the zombies were toast, but with just 8 attacks in the front from the Greater Fire Elemental, the zombies are actually pretty likely to stick around as it turns out. 

The Snow Foxes flee the field, as expected.

A bit flummoxed, both Rhinosaurs shred the blocking Snow Foxes, eager for more worthy foes. One repositions, to prevent any possible flank charges from the Cavern Dwellers by using the building to block them out. The other overruns. The Clan Lord flies and pivots and breathes fire, but rolls poorly, landing just a single damage against the nearest Cavern Dweller.

Top of Round 3: Varangur:

The Snow Foxes are all gone, but the ones on the left did a fine job, buying me time to move some heavy hitters up. This round I opt to triple charge the isolated Rhinosaurs with the Thegn and two Cavern Dwellers. Between the two Dwellers, 5 additional attacks are rolled up, and the unit is obliterated! One Dweller will turn to face the Clan Lord. The other Dweller and Thegn will face the opposite direction to threaten the center of the field. Stacked in front of the Clan Lord, he's only got one charge against them, should he choose to remain here.

Paired with the Army Painter laser, a little 45 degree marker has been a great game aid to have around.

The newcomer Kruufnir makes the sacrifice play, charging the Rhinosaurs, rolling well and dealing a few damage and at least stripping them of Thunderous Charge for the coming turn.

The Huscarls with the light cloaks to not have any charges. I opt to delay things this turn to hopefully have a big turn next turn. Some Draugr charge out from the woods into the horde of Primes. This should have been a Hindered Charge, but I don't think I caught that at the time. They are zombies, and I don't think they do any damage anyways, so I suppose it doesn't really matter!

The Varangur delay against the Salamander infantry in the center.

In the center, Magnilde charges into the Ancients, looking to occupy them. This lets the Huscarls with the dark cloaks charge the flank of the Greater Fire Elemental, and they manage to extinguish it, overcoming some very poor to-hit rolling (one of the two batches of 20 attacks had 7 1's and missed more than half the hits...). Victorious, the Draugr change facing and look to block the Pale Rider in the coming turns, while the Huscarls turn back towards the center.

Thankfully, the Huscarls prevail.

On the right, the Thegn has a Nimble charge around the powerful Pale Rider, and takes it, joining the Night Raiders in a fight against the Tyrants. Thanks to the volley of axes last turn, the duo are able to push through the Salamander berserkers and overrun.

Bottom of Round 3: Salamanders:

The Pale Rider nimble wheels around, and moves to breathe fire against the Draugr. Only two more damage is done, but the Nerve check is again just shy of a Rout, and they will Iron Resolve another point back. The Ancients swing against Magnilde, landing 3, but that is Iron Resolved back down to 2.

I wasn't sure if he would commit against Kruufnir, but he does love his Rhinosaurs.
This was a textbook Surge use by my opponent!

Kruufnir is out of their charge arc, but the The Fire Elementals execute a classic Surge attack, moving up and clearing the Rhinosaurs and then pivoting. They are then Surged the needed three inches to get into the flank of the legendary troll. The Rhinosaurs are disordered, and roll quite poorly, dealing only 3 damage in response. Fortunately, the surging Fire Elementals dish out 20, and scorch the troll before he can regenerate anything. The Elementals will overrun, and the Rhinosaurs will hide behind the building again to lick their wounds. 

The Clan Lord opts to fight the stack, charging a Cavern Dweller in the front, and dealing 6. The monster takes the beating but does stick around, thankfully.

Top of Round 4: Varangur:

The stack complicates my own positioning here a bit. The Cavern Dwellers and Thegn are all Height 4, so the Thegn is blocking the vision of the Cavern Dweller behind him, and preventing a multi-charge against the Fire Elementals, who are only Height 3. Being the weaker of the two, the Thegn side-steps, which should allow the Cavern Dweller to charge into the Fire Elementals. The Dweller rolls up only 1 extra attack, and the Draugr are similarly ineffectual, and the Elementals hold. The other Cavern Dweller counter-charges the Clan Lord, who takes some damage, but also holds. 

The Cavern Dwellers try to grind on their own, but aren't rolling up many extra attacks. 

In the center, the Huscarls multi-charge the Prime Horde. Bane-Chant should land on the unit on the right, and the Primes are massacred. Both will turn to face the left-hand edge of the table and the incoming Rhinosaur unit.

The Night Raiders move and pivot, looking to be free of the fenced-in graveyard next turn. Magnilde continues to poke at the Ancients, dealing another few damage, and the veteran Salamanders are soon accosted in the flank by the Thegn, and the unit is routed.

The Draugr charge the Pale Rider to occupy him, and I think they even do some damage. This should slow the Rider down for a turn. If memory serves, the Thegn is out of the charge arc and Magnilde is out of range. 

Bottom of Round 4: Salamanders:

The Pale Rider counter-charges the damaged Draugr, and munches through them. The Draugr have been quite lucky this game and have done very well for me. My opponent is glad to finally be rid of them.

The Pale Rider wheels to eye up the center, though is a bit far away.

The Rhinosaurs seek vengeance, and charge and shred through a unit of Huscarls, but the second unit of elite Varangur warriors is waiting nearby.

The grinds on the left are not going well for the Varangur.

The Fire Elementals counter-charge the Cavaern Dweller, dealing 5 to it, but the monster holds. It's partner is not as lucky, and the Clan Lord rolls hot to beat the beast into the ground.

Top of Round 5: Varangur:

The Brew of Sharpness comes through again, and Clan Lord breaks free on the left, and I'm feeling a little vulnerable here. Amazingly, the Thegn can still see the Fire Elementals, and will nimble charge  in against the them, along with the counter-charging Cavern Dweller. I somehow thought the Elementals had Regeneration, but they do not, and so the damage has stacked up, and the elementals are snuffed out. The Thegn and the Cavern Dweller wheel about to face the Clan Lord as do the Draugr.

The Huscarls charge the Rhinosaurs, who have also accumulated a few damage (from Kruufnir), and the fresh infantry unit is able to cut them down. The Huscarls I think elect to hold. They should be out of the charge range of the Clan Lord in the front, and the Pale Rider can't reach them in the rear either.

End of the Top of Round 5.

Being a feisty individual, Magnilde swivels around to charge the Pale Rider. This should occupy it and prevent it from getting into the scoring zone this turn, while the Thegn charges the Mage (he could not reach the Rhinosaurs). Both Salamander units hold, but take a few damage and are disordered. The Night Raiders slink away from the Graveyard, eyeing up the center and the scenario for the next turn.

Bottom of Round 5: Salamanders:

My opponent has two powerful monsters left, but both have taken a bit of a beating. The stronger Clan Lord has gotten the worse of it so far. My opponent's individuals cannot score and are being harried, and he is out of any other other scoring units. He can probably drag a few things down with him, but given the scenario, he decides to tap out so we can get in another game.

A bloody victory for the Varangur! Thanks to my opponent for a great game!

Game Conclusions

Being a mostly infantry list, I wasn't sure how it would do. I think it might struggle a bit against a speedier list, but with good chaff, it proved effective against another infantry-heavy list. Overall, I think had a good plan for the scenario relying on a very potent center of Huscarls. I was able to protect them while concentrating my forces well for the important combats (committing 500 points of monsters against the Rhinosaurs to remove them; and 400 points of Huscarls against the Primes, for example). Winning those important combats decisively put me in a good position to win the game. 

Despite the resulting capitulation, my opponent still played a good game. Reverting to an older list and an older way of thinking can be hard to do, but I think he did well applying some of the insight gained over the last few months to this list and to this game. The Pale Rider was deployed in the front line this time, and performed better than in some of our previous games. It did kill it's points back (Foxes, Night Raiders, Draugr), and was applying pressure throughout the game. While he wasn't that impressed with the Elementals, the Fire Elemental unit also got a textbook Surge "charge" in against Kruufnir, which was well-done and neat to see in action! My opponent also remembered to use the firebreath of the Clan Lord and the Pale Rider, which is commendable. I still think those kind of breath attacks are under-utilized by most players. Unfortunately for my opponent, despite some good moves, I was able to trade quite well and keep him on the back foot for most of the game.

Testing Conclusions

I am still pretty new to the Varangur, but I had a great time and I learned a lot from this infantry-focused list! Wrapping up with the testing takeaways:

• Draugr. With their slower speed, assisting other infantry seems like a great use for them. These blocked very well, and absorbed a good amount of damage, which let me get the valuable Huscarls to where I needed them to be. They are not flashy, but are workhorses and definitely helped enable the rest of the list.
• Night Raiders. I think ideally, these threaten other light, speed 5 infantry. I didn't have great targets across the table this time. The Tyrants had the weakest defense, but have a good charge range, so despite wanting that match-up originally, I found I couldn't actually safely fling stuff at them. Still, these did.. decently with the axes, and were able to secure that flank with some help. They weren't used particularly well, but these were fine results for an early outing. We'll play around with them some more for sure!
• Huscarls. The scenario was ideal for them. I was able to give them a great match up across the table and then protect them long enough to do some heavy lifting for me. They definitely need support, but received it this game, so they were able to deliver for me. With great stats, they should take most magic items well, though I'm not sure what I'd want to put on them just yet.
• Cavern Dwellers. They mostly rolled "1" for their additional attacks. They also didn't get into any flanks, like you'd want to do with a monster. So I can't say they over-performed or that I even used them particularly well, but they did do well enough and my opponent did dislike them, so they have potential. I think the 50mm base makes them deceptively strong? As-ever with giants and monsters, it's best not to use them alone (as shown in this report even), but they can do good work. Lifeleech isn't all that useful, but these did well alongside infantry.
• Skald with Lute. He didn't do much, but he was nice to have? I did get the spell off in the important combat against the Primes. The utility of a cheap inspiring source is great and Bane Chant is always nice to have. He's not that big of a points commitment, so I'll likely try to squeeze him in again in some future lists.
• Thegns on Frostfangs. I paid for the Snow Foxes and the 6th attack... and then forgot about it nearly all day long, finally realizing as our second game wrapped up. Oops. I think I used nimble well throughout the day, so I can't complain overall. They performed about as well as my Lords typically do, sneaking in just a point or two of damage in combat, so all things considered, I am actually very happy with the downgrade!
• Kruufnir. I have him on a 40mm, and luckily remembered to grab a 50mm for the games I will try to rebase him soon. I forgot about Rampage entirely this game, so he didn't get a great match up, and unfortunately he was sacrificed this game, and not used particularly well. He died alright though? We'll just have to run him again I think!
• Magnilde. I didn't actually pop fly at all, but she was a powerful little disruptor, mightily pinning and delaying enemy units during the game to enable my fighty units to do their thing. I've thrown her against monsters and such, but have not really used her as a unit roadblock before. She did quite well in this role.

A final thank you to my opponent for the game!

Hobby Update: Skald with Lute

My hobbying started out quite strong in the new year, but has slowed down considerably. I have a few prospective regiments about, even primed, but even they have given me me pause over the last month. A spare mini here or there is still doable though. My previous Skalds have generally looked quite barbarous but not very musical. With both a desire to run more Inspiring sources and the recent addition of all of the multiple infantry regiments of Night Raiders and Draugr, I figured I should do up a more proper looking Skald to help the Varangur out.

Eh, not my best work, but it should be fine on the table. 

The mini is Nolzur's Human Male Bard. The longsword had a bit of a corkscrew bend going on that I was not able fix, even with some of the reheating and reshaping tricks I have picked up over the years. So, the blade was cut off, and then replaced with an old GW skeleton scimitar (I think from the Tomb Kings skeletons), which actually looks pretty good.

The mini came pre-primed, but since I had added some naked plastic bits to it and it was quite pleasant outside for February, I gave the mini a rinse, let it dry, and primed the mini again. This was arguably a good idea, but unfortunately I didn't get the best results this time. The rattle can was old, and I either didn't shake it up well enough, or the nozzle was a little blocked, or maybe something else was going on (the temp was nice, it wasn't too windy, but it was a bit damp out), and so the resulting coverage of the primer was not great.

The paintjob emulates the axe-wielding Night Raiders / Clansmen with blue cloth. The primer issues seemed to obscure some of the arm armor, which allowed me paint it as bones, to further tie them to the other units. Unfortunately the primer also obscured the details on the hands and face, which is quite noticeable when looking at the miniature head-on, but should hopefully be passable on the table with a steeper angle of viewing and some distance... Overall, it's not a great paintjob, but it should work. 

I like my Inspiring sources to do more than just stand around the battlefield looking good. While the Skald here does have a ranged attack option, the range is very short and with only two attacks it seems unlikely to do any damage at all! The Lute of Insatiable Darkness has been a pretty common item for me and these ASB-like sources, as Bane Chant is a nice way to let a nearby unit punch a little above its weight. Since the miniature comes with a Lute, and I like the item already in general, I think this will be a natural starting point!

I am tending towards running like sources with like units regarding Inspiring; I don't want to pay for a mount if I am just going to be inspiring infantry and not taking advantage of the extra speed! I also want to run more sources for the Varangur than I have been, to free up my Lords on Frostfang to disrupt and pressure more in-game. With the recent infantry additions to the army, as well as a few potent Huscarl units around already, I think this Skaald should fit the bill nicely!

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #027: Forces of the Abyss vs Northern Alliance [Dominate]

Intro and Lists:

We still had some daylight left, and opted for a second game, keeping the same armies to running new lists, like we normally do. My opponent again left the Ice Elementals on the shelf, bringing another neat combined-arms list for the Northern Alliance.

We've both appreciated some cheaper regiments to contest objectives and such, and the trio of Dwarf Clansmen returned from the previous game to fill that role. Ice Kin Hunters were around for some shooting support, with some Snow Foxes for annoying chaff again.

Two hordes of Snow Trolls are around for grinding combats, and I think I have unfairly dismissed these a bit previously. They have Defense 5, higher Nerve than usual, Regeneration, and CS2. I thought the unit was just CS1, but these should be able to stick around and grind very well. And speaking of, we have Hrimm, a Legendary Ice Giant, costing a bit more than the base model (he *is* legendary) and thus elevated, he has gained a few more base attacks, Nerve, and is Fearless. The last few Giants I have run have flubbed, gotten spooked and then routed, so Hrimm is probably pretty dangerous on the field if I had to guess.

We also have two Lords on Frostfang and one Snow Troll Prime; a trio of Nimble, scoring monster characters which can be very difficult to deal with. I have struggled to use my Lords well, so we'll see if I can pick up any tips here.

Lastly we have an Ice Blade Hero on foot, a tough little duelist and disruptor, likely around to hunt characters, get in my way, and be a little damage multiplier whenever he can.

I brought the above, an attempt at some Abyssal Multiple Small Units play. As covered elsewhere in my blabbering posts in this corner of the internet, I am using the term these days to mean "no unit larger than a regiment" for Kings of War. Most things are still pretty cheap though, with only the Succubi, Chroneas and Manifestation of Ba'el over 200 points. The most expensive thing is the Manifestation, which is only about 11% of the total list, so still not too bad any way you slice it. Up to test are:

• Succubi Infantry with Hammer of Measured Force. I have used them once or twice before with this loadout. Pathfinder seems great to have, and the Hammer is best against high-defense targets, so we'll see how they do.
• Triple Flamebearers. I was wondering if three regiments was too much. Maybe I should try out some troops instead? I just want to check in and see how I feel about the Flamebearers and their unit count at the end of the game.
• Oathbreakers. With the Succubi and Lower Abyssals around, I figured that this legendary regiment these might be handy. We'll see how they do in combat, and if Rally is impactful at all.
• Tortured Souls. Trying them out again! They were neat, but they didn't have a particularly insightful debut in the last game. Fortunately we have them up again here for more testing and we'll see how I am feeling about them at the end of the day.
• Chroneas. I think this is this monster's second time on the table as well? It's a nice combat-oriented monster with some healing effects plus Cloak of Death. What's not the like? We'll see how she does in a fight and how I like Cloak of Death.
• Seductress and the Gnome-Glass Shield. I still like the Seductress, and this was a nice bit of tech suggested in the FB group (and coincidentally run by my opponent in our first game of the day). We'll see how I like it.
• Zaz'u'szu the Betrayer. I am liking the caster very much on paper, but am definitely not using him to his full potential as I'm not using Bane Chant at all. Maybe that will be more applicable here? We'll see.
• Manifestation of Ba'el. The Manifestation has brought a lot of utility in other games, with fly, Lighting and some decent quality attacks. Last game he was a bit cold, so we'll see how he does this game and continue exploring.
  

The Abyssals have 16 drops and 27 Unit Strength vs the 15 drops and 28 Unit Strength of the Northern Alliance. This kind of Multiple Small Unit Play hasn't been super successful though, so despite the closeness in a few metrics I was expecting a very tough fight. I think the knowing when to attack and when to play for the objectives is big for this playstyle, which I am not good at yet. So we'll see what the scenario is, try to focus on that, and see how we do.

Table, Terrain, and Deployment

We generated a new terrain set-up, and moved things around from the previous game into a new configuration. The Hills are still Height 3; the fences Height 2 Obstacles, the Forests Height 6 Difficult Terrain and the buildings Height 9 Blocking Terrain. We rolled up Dominate. Again I won the roll off for sides, and opted for "my" side.

Deployment, post-scouting moves, from the left.

My opponent went pretty wide. Left-to-right we have two Snow Foxes, one Lord on Frostfang, Hrimm the legendary Frost Giant, the second Lord on Frostfang, two regiments of Ice Kin Hunters that would use a scout move to get into the forest, triple Dwarf Clansmen screening some Ice Trolls and a Prime, and then Primes screening a unit of Snow Foxes. Out on the far right was the Blade Hero on foot, since I had dropped my Seductress out here.

Center of the board.

Moving from right-to-left back down the field are Tortured Souls, Imps, Seductress, triple Flamebearers screening a unit of Gargoyles and eyeing up my own forest, and Zaz the Betrayer. The center had more Tortured Souls, Oathbreakers hiding behind a hill, the Chroneas, and Lower Abyssals screening more Garyogles. On the right we have pathfinding Succubi, the Manifestation of Ba'el and more Tortured Souls.

Deployments on the right.

Overall, I was pretty happy with my deployment, such as it was. Multiple Small Units play can be a bit unforgiving in Kings of War. With the scenario, I was happy to get a forest to stick my Flamebearers. Everything else had decent avenues for mobility, so I figured we'd see how it all went.

My opponent again won the roll off for first turn, and passed it on to me, in order to waste a turn of shooting from my Flamebearers. That still seems to be a good default move when fighting this army.

Top of Round 1: Abyssals

On my right, the Seductress moved quickly, hoping to entice and eliminate the isolated Blade Hero. The Tortured Souls were angled, and so flew up at the double as well. They should be a charge target as well, so we'll see what the Hero ends up doing.

Movement on the right, with some things moving quicker than others.

Imps moved up, as did all three of the Flamebearer units. The Gargoyles held back for now. Zaz betrayed the Gargoyles, dealing a nice 3 damage to some of the opposing Dwarfs with the boosted Lighting Bolts. 

Movement in the center, with the plucky Tourtured Souls ready to pounce and interdict.

In the center, the Tortured Souls moved up, looking to charge the Ice Kin Hunters in the forest or intercept some Snow Trolls if they got aggressive. The Oathbreakers took the hill, hoping to charge off of it. The Chroneas moved up, and the Gargoyles hopped over the Lower Abyssals, looking to make use of Fly next turn to get in the way of things if needed.

Movement on the right. The hill really does nothing with such tall units.

On the left, the Succubi sprint up, looking to throw themselves into the forest next turn. The Tortured Souls simply move, looking to zone out the Snow Foxes from being too aggressive. I measure, and fly the Manifestation up, keeping out of range of things. Tidying up the movement phase, I move him up another inch, since I have several inches to spare against the charge ranges of the giant and the Lord on Frostfang. In the ranged phase, the Manifestation slips 1 damage onto the giant.

Bottom of Round 1: Northern Alliance

When remeasuring for the Manifestation, I forgot to account for the pesky Snow Foxes, like I did originally, and die for the Tortured Souls. They have a good inch on me, charge, and get the 1 damage to disorder me. The other unit of Snow Foxes don't care about the Tortured Souls, and scamper right up to them, pivoting even. If I charge and fail to rout the Foxes, the Souls will be presenting a nice flank for the Lord on Frostfang.

The Ice Kin Hunters shoot at the Succubi, and Hrimm adds a mighty Icy Breath, which I forgot he had. Even with Stealthy for the bow shots, the Succubi are pulled into double-digits of damage and blasted away before getting to do anything. 

Mistakes were made it seems.

It is a disaster of a first round for me, and of my own making. The Manifestation is entirely my fault I forgot that I had measured from the Foxes first, so did not have a few safe inches when I checked back later. This is also bad play from me, as one should move a unit and then move on. Even in casual play like this, going back is poor form and not something I should be doing or getting in the habit of. I figured the Succubi could survive even a dedicated round of shooting from the Kin (and I was right!) but I did forget about the breath attack on the giant. And even with all this, I was excited to use Pathfinder on the Succubi, but these Def 3 units are not a good target if I have the Hammer of Measured Force. I just misused this unit entirely I think.

The block of Northern Alliance moves up slowly, in tandem.

The rest of the Northern Alliance line tentatively moves up. The Blade Hero charges the Seductress, but fails to land any damage due to Gnome Glass Shield.

Top of Round 2: Abyssals

I opt to multi-charge the Blade Hero, hopping to commit hard here now and then be able to move on. The Seductress and the Tortured Souls each deal 5 damage, but I fail to rout him with the required 4 for the roll. 

Movement phase for the top of Round 2.

The Gargoyles actually regenerate everything, and then I believe Zaz betrays them again, landing three damage onto the Snow Foxes. The Flamebearers all throw into the nearest Dwarf regiment, which was already wounded. They deal around 9 new damage, and do rout it.

Elsewhere, I am forced into some risky plays to try and protect the Manifestation of Ba'el. The Gargoyles charge the Giant landing 2 damage, and the daring Tortured Souls make a hindered charge into some of the Ice Kin in the forest... but only land 2 hits and then fail to do any damage, rolling two 1's to wound. The Chroneas advances, just out of charge range of the nearby Dwarfs, and the Lower Abyssals move up to try and pressure the Ice Kin as well. 

The Manifestation is momentarily free. It and the the Lord on Frostfang can see one another over the hill, and the former is going to be charging in next turn. Not how I wanted this flank to be going.

The Manifestation counter-charges the Foxes, and thankfully shreds them, but only gets 1" on the victorious back up. In retrospect, I maybe over-reacted here? I still have a 10" move, and should be able to just disengage and back up out of immediate danger. I didn't think of that at the time, though it doesn't really solve the predicament, just delay it a bit.

The Tortured Souls nearby charge the other unit of Snow Foxes, landing just 1 damage against them. It was not a good turn for the Tortured Souls.

Bottom of Round 2: Northern Alliance

I fail to take a picture, but the one Lord on Frostfang will get into the Manifestation of Ba'el this turn, dealing 6 damage to him. The Snow Foxes counter-charge the Tortured Souls, dealing 2. The legendary Frost Giant will obliterate the Gargoyles. 

Around the forest, a regiment of Ice Kin Hunters, with Pathfinder, will charge the oncoming Lower Abyssals, and are joined by the other Lord on Frostfang, with Strider, and together, will just shred the Lower Abyssals. I severely underestimated the Ice Kin Hunters and am just feeding them their favorite Def3 units it seems.

Also around the forest, the spacing doesn't work out for the nearby Snow Trolls, so a unit of Dwarves makes a hindered charge to help free their Ice Kin friends from the terrible Tortured Souls that didn't even hurt them on my turn. I believe 8 damage is done, but the Souls stick around. 

Out on the right, I believe the Snow Foxes make a longer charge into the middle Flamebearer unit, and do land the 1 damage required to disorder them. My opponent has some really good disruption with the Foxes this game.

Top of Round 3: Abyssals

On the left, the Manifestation finally comes through today with some amazing rolling, regenerating 1, and then hitting and wounding 7 times against the Lord on Frostfang, and wavering the Lord. This was good, but this also unfortunately kept the Manifestation in place, with the legendary giant ready to pounce as soon as I pass the turn. I unfortunately don't have anything else to throw at him right now.

That's an angry looking giant lurking over there.

The nearby Tortured Souls do win out against the Snow Foxes, but it is a turn too late really. I really needed them to do that last turn so they could run interference this turn. Alas.

The center is a mess. With the Lower Abyssals pulverized, I opt to send the Chroneas into the Lord. Cloak of Death triggers, but the attack rolls are quite poor. With a few extra attacks, the Chroneas only manages 2 damage in melee against the Lord. The Gargoyles charge into the Ice Kin Hunters, also dealing just 2 damage. The Tortured Souls will counter-charge the other regiment of Ice Kin Hunters, dealing a few damage themselves, though I do not recall if the Cloak reached that far to help out. The Chroneas will heal the nearby Tortured Souls for 2 with the Temporal Ruptures, and they will Lifeleech another 2 damage back, which is a fun interaction I didn't notice during list-building.

Cloak of Death is neat, but the Chroneas had 9 attacks and only did 2 damage, which was not an impressive showing. 

For shooting, I think Zaz and the Flamebearers all throw into the Snow Troll Prime and are able to burn the beast off of the battlefield. The middle unit is disordered, so just counter-charges the Snow Foxes, and deals 3, bringing them to 6, but only Wavers them. The Seductress is able to dispatch the Blade hero after taking a few damage herself. The Tortured Souls accompanying her decline to join in the combat this time, thinking she has it, and instead shift to threaten the center of the field.

Bottom of Round 3: Northern Alliance

On the left, the wavered Lord disengages and then backs up, letting the mighty giant Hrimm connect and then slide right on over. The giant beats the Manifestation to a pulp with the big hammer club, and then victoriously moves backward, closing the gap and protecting the Lord from any possible counterattack from the nearby Tourtured Souls. That was a good play, and the Manifestation is brought down!

Something something "Hammertime."

In the center, the beatings continue. The Ice Kin Hunters easily cut down the Gargoyles, another Def3 unit, and the other unit of Hunters, again assisted by the Dwarves but in the flank this time, do swat away the Tortured Souls harassing them. The Chroneas takes 7 from the Lord on Frostfang, but at least it holds.

Thankfully, the Snow Trolls have been slow to act this game. The one on my right has been pretty passive, and only side-steps a bit this turn. The one in the center has been gummed up a bit, but does finally push up near the very center of the board this turn.

Top of Round 4: Abyssals

The Flamebearers will countercharge the Snow Foxes again, this time dispatching them. The other two units along with Zaz the Betrayer will all throw into the Dwarf Clansmen near the center, landing 5 damage, but the sturdy Dwarves hold, since this is the first damage they have taken.

Moving away from the building lets the Tortured Souls get in a flank charge.

Still on the right, the Tortured Souls make a flank charge into the plodding Snow Trolls. The Imps make a frontal charge to try and help out (they fail to do any damage as I recall). Still 8 damage lands on the Trolls. If my opponent's Regen rolls are as low as mine, I might be able to deal with these.

The Seductress flies into the center of the Northern Alliance blob, looking to disrupt something. We'll see what the targets are when the turn comes around again.

Some desperate violence in the center as the Abyssals try to claw they way back into the game.

The Oathbreakers had quietly descended from the hill last turn, and this turn, charge past the menacing Snow Trolls and into the Ice Kin Hunters, finally routing them. They will simply change facing to look at the other Ice Kin Hunters and the Dwarves. The Chroneas rolls pretty bad again against the Lord on Frostfang, who holds. Nothings is around to heal with the special ability. Cloak of Death does decent work though, softening up the Lord, both Ice Kin Hunters, and the Primes now.

Bottom of Round 4: Northern Alliance

In the messy center, the Lord decides to disengage from the Chroneas, and then flank charge the Oathbreakers, with a penalty to hit. With the Ice Kin joining in the front, the Oathbreakers take a fair amount of damage, but luck is on my side and the Nerve check is just shy of the Rout.

Honestly, this is lucky for the Abyssals.

Hrimm will change facing towards the Chroneas fight, throwing out an Icy Breath attack at the Chroneas, but luck is with me again, and it only deals 1 damage. The second Lord on Frostfang will nimbly move to face the Rear of the Oathbreakers, and the center should be locked down for the Northern Alliance by the end of the next round.

The Flamebearers are about all I have left right now.

The Central primes move to face the Flamebearers. The other Primes pound the Imps to a pulp. We had the Tortured Souls pop out of combat, but I'm not sure that was right with things engaged on the flank and the front. I am long overdue for a rules reread. Functionally though, it should be the same, with the Primes besting the Imps and then changing facing towards the Tortured Souls. 

In the backfield, the Dwarves turn to face down the Seductress.

Top of Round 5: Abyssals

The Tortured Souls swing up behind Hrimm.

The Cloak of Death triggers, and should get Hrimm, both Lords, and the Ice Kin Hunters, doing more good work for me. The Chroneas will take the flank of the Lord that tried to escape to another combat, dealing I believe just 6, and the Oathbreakers will finally cut down the last of the Ice Kin Hunters, with the Seductress joining in this combat since I really wanted the Oathbreakers to survive.

The Abyssals drag down a few more units before capitulating to the cold steel of the Northern Alliance.

I believe the Chroneas does just 6 to the Lord, and I believe I heal up the Oathbreakers by that full 6 with the Temporal Ruptures ability. This would be an error, as the ability maxes out at 3 if one reads all the way to the end. The Oathbreakers do have Regen, but I don't think they rolled any, and I think I just played this incorrectly, so my bad there.

Now, some desperate shooting from the Abyssals to clear out the center.

Over on the right, the Flamebearers finally best the Snow Foxes in melee. The other two units will throw into nearby Dwarves, dealing 4 and bringing them from 5 to 9, but again the Dwarves hold. 

To delay, Zaz the Betrayer charges some Snow Trolls in the front. I think they rook 1 from a Cloak of Death; I don't think any of his hits actually land. 

The other unit of Snow Trolls takes a charge from the Tortured Souls, and I get a very lucky Waver on them.

Bottom of Round 5: Northern Alliance

The Wavered Trolls do nothing. Under fire, some Dwarves charge some Flamebearers, and the latter are disordered, but hold against the assault. 

Somehow, the Oathbreakers avoided combat this turn.

The Chroneas is in a bind. Flush with the Oathbreakers, I could not pivot to get both the giant and the Lord on Frostfang into a front arc. I decided the Lord was less scary, giving him the flank. Hrimm and the Lord charge in to put a stop to the Cloak of Death, and batter the Chroneas down. I don't think it would have made a difference even if both were in the front. Still, with both committing against the Chroneas to shut it down for good means the Oathbreakers are untouched.

Not wanting to give up rear charges to the Tortured Souls, Hrimm reforms and the Lord backs up a good ways. Should I take either charge, the other should be around to avenge. 

Dwarves from the forest move into the scoring zone in the middle, getting stuck up on the fence. 

The Snow Trolls counter-charge Zaz, who takes 8 get gets very lucky with just a Waver.

Top of Round 6: Abyssals

The Oathbreakers hit the rear of the Trolls fighting Zaz, and will cut their way through the beasts, and will regenerate two of their damage. They should be 4 then, due to the oopsies with the Temporal Ruptures noted above. They will reform to face towards Hrimm and the Dwarves.

Movement in Round 6.

The Seductress joins the Tortured Souls against the Snow Trolls, but they have regenerated well, and I believe are just fine this time when the Nerve check comes.

Aftermath of the top of Round 6.

It is Round 6, so the two unengaged Flamebearers move up, throwing into the Dwarves on the far side of the zone. It looks like they have a Wavered marker, but I don't know what damage was done. The unit fighting the Dwarves disengages, hoping to draw their foe away from the zone.

The Tortured Souls stalking Hrimm move up even closer to the Giant. This is a mistake in retrospect, they were doing the same thing where they were. They don't need to move. Moving removes the "charging off of a hill" bonus, and this just opens them up to a potential charge from the Lord next turn.

I pass the turn, and will be scoring with the Oathbreakers (3), Zaz (1), and two units of Flamebearers (2 each) for a total of 8.

Bottom of Round 6: Northern Alliance

My opponent ends up in a bit of a rough spot as the turn starts, with only the wavering Dwarves near the fence actually scoring. 

Hrimm and the Lord on Frostfang both need to pivot and move in order to score. The Snow Trolls fighting the Tortured Souls need 3" to get mostly into the zone to score, so disengage and slide sideways to do so, not wanting to risk a potential low roll after a fight.

The Dwarves fighting the Flamebearers move two inches backwards, but are not quite scoring.

At the end of Round 6, the Northern Alliance has Hrimm (1), a Lord on Frostfang (1), Dwarves by the fence (3) and Snow Trolls (3) for a total of 8 as well.

End of game shot.

It is a bit of a precarious position for the Northern Alliance though. Getting the tie took everything, and should we go to a Round 7, I should be able to close this out. However, we do not roll up a Round 7, all speculation is moot, and we end the game with an 8-8 tie!

Game Conclusion

Given how the game started, I was not expecting this close of a finish! My Flamebearers were harassed but were still intact at the end of the game, letting me light up most of the early units entering the scoring zone and eventually allowed me claw my way back into the game.

Round 1 was really rough, and definitely put me on the back foot. I felt like so much of the rest of the game was me trying to claw my way back into the game, and it wasn't until Round 5 that I started thinking I had any chance at all. Cartwright had a lot of great little plays in both games, continually utilizing the Foxes and Lords well, in order to disrupt my plans and apply pressure.

The Ice Kin Hunters were terrors this game! I did not look at their stats. They ended up being a really nice "bait" unit, as their ranged attacks are good enough to worry some things, but if you do close with them, they have even better melee scores. I dealt with them incredibly poorly this game, continually feeding them Defense 3 units, which they cut down with ease. They are definitely a frightening unit for the Forces of the Abyss to face, and I'll try and keep their potency in mind next time!

Testing Conclusion

My opponent quite liked the giant in play. The model looks nice and imposing as well, so hopefully we'll be seeing that again! The trio of Dwarf Clansmen definitely liked these objective games, so we should be seeing more of them as well!

• Succubi Infantry with Hammer of Measured Force. I used these just terribly. I wanted to get them into the forest and fight due to them having Pathfinder, but using a unit with the Hammer against a Def3 unit is a bad idea if you didn't know! I hadn't run them since I started looking at some of the math behind units, and didn't do that before our game. Doing so now, the Hammer should give them a decent 6-7 damage on any attack... but even so, that should not be enough to rout the elite archers of the Northern Alliance, or any regiment really. These don't have the oomph to one-shot anything, and were used poorly for sure. Looking at the math now, I'm not sure the unit is all that good to begin with unless you run multiples to try and swarm into flanks, and even the, they have no offensive boosts and are just Def 3. I might try a naked unit in the future to establish a baseline for me, but right now, they just aren't vibing with me.
• Manifestation of Ba'el. Again, misused! With so little on that flank I should have been more cagey with him and this was poor play all around from me. Still, on the back foot he maimed what he could on the way out. Had it gone to a Round 7, I could have taken off the Lord or the giant (maybe both) with the damage he helped inflict. Still not a great way to use him though.
• Triple Flamebearers. I liked having all the shots, any they saved the game for me, but I felt a bit crowded with three regiments. Mulling it over, I think that is actually due to Zaz being around? I might try troops and such, but I think they'll also get a different Inspiring hero to help them out.
• Oathbreakers. Rally did nothing, but having a Fearless, fighty unit was definitely fun. The normal Abyssal Guard is only -/16 though. Low Nerve has been an issue I've had with the Abyssal Horsemen... but with Fearless should help with that, and I think the generic Guard could be be worth exploring more, especially with an MSU theme in mind. 
• Tortured Souls. Their second showing wasn't great for them either, but I am getting more of a handle on them I think. Math-wise they should do 3 damage in the front of most things, or 6 in the flank, which isn't bad for their price point and just fractionally worse on average than a basic troop of Knights from the Kingdoms of Men. The medium cavalry comparison seems to be about right. With Fearless and Lifeleech they should be able to win most direct chaff wars. I like them, and will need to play around with them more. The Abyssals have access to enough other chaff that is just around to die, so even without Nimble I think these will generally want to start out on the flanks and hope for those messy advances and potential flank charges. 
• Chroneas. These were not ideal situations for her but she still impressed me overall. A -/18 for Nerve let her stick around for some great testing. The rolling was not great for her attacks, and the heal did not trigger all that often due to me slowly funneling units into the combats to die in one round, but Cloak of Death did a lot of work with such a messy game state. Looking at some future potential lists after this game, I discovered that she is actually not Inspiring. It's been a few busy days since the game, but nothing jumps out as explicitly saved by a reroll in the report to point out as an error in the report (like over-healing the Oathbreakers) but if I am surprised now, I most certainly played this wrong during the game and forced some rerolls that should not have been, so apologies to my opponent - I swore she had it. Lacking Inspiring makes her a bit less desirable for my lists, as I am already struggling to get good Inspiring coverage and sources for the Abyssals. She is just a fighty monster now, and will need some support herself. 
• Seductress and the Gnome-Glass Shield. It was good? I can see the appeal. When I have the points, I think this will be worth running again and is some neat tech. With Enthrall though, I think she might be a contender for Inspiring the Flamebearers in the future. The Abyssals are a mess when it comes to Inspiring sources.
• Zaz'u'szu the Betrayer. I still like the guy, but I don't think it's the best fit for Flamebearers. I think he might be better in with melee units, where he can pressure early from afar with some boosted Lightning Bolts, and then get some Bane-Chants off later as needed. I still like him, so we'll try to find him some beefier friends next time around.
• Imps. I had the points so I ran them, but with Tortured Souls and Gargoyles in the list already, I don't think I needed Imps here too. The Abyssals have no shortage with chaff, I've really only liked them as last-second chaff for Molochs. They don't usually tend to accomplish much besides taking a hit. 

Overall, it was a great day. We had two good games and while I don't think I played particularly well and did have some rules goofs - sorry about the Chroneas errors - I did put up a pretty decent fight both times! I definitely learned a lot about the Abyssals and have a lot to consider as I figure out what things to test next, especially around sources of Inspiring. I'll just have to keep exploring. Many thanks to Cartwright for hosting and the great time!