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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Movement on the right, with some things moving quicker than others. |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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 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.
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| That's an angry looking giant lurking over there. |
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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| The Flamebearers are about all I have left right now. |
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Aftermath of the top of Round 6. |
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.
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| 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!
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