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.
There seem to be more blurry shots than usual. I apologize in advance. This is my left flank, in case you couldn't tell. |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Varangur delay against the Salamander infantry in 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.
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! |
The Cavern Dwellers try to grind on their own, but aren't rolling up many extra attacks. |
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.
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.
- 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.
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