Hobby Update: 2nd Guardian Brutes

Way back in 2017, I used some Farrow Slaughterhousers as the minis for my Herd's Guardian Brutes (here are the wip & update posts). Sometime since, the box was apparently discontinued! I was not expecting to get another box of these, but I found a hobby website that was redoing their inventory and digital storefront, but showing it as available. After a few days of checking back and trying to refresh their cart I managed to checkout, and I have a second horde ready for the table now!

The finished horde nestled in their tray.

March was bonkers with weather (about once a week we were getting a serious ice or snow or rain storm, followed by enough warm days to melt everything away before more precipitation), but I managed to get these assembled (with their additional horn bits) and primed on a nice March day without issue, and paint thrown on them in April. 

Testing layouts.

The miniatures are metal, though this box went pretty smooth for assembly. Being heavy, metal minis, I didn't want to cut them off of their slots, which do provide a lot of stability when used with the bases they come with. However, I did sand off the lip of each before inserting, so the paste would hopefully be a little less noticeable for the final unit. The bases were pasted and then glued down, and then the unit base itself got a thin layer of paste. I applied this sparingly, wary of the warping I got with the Forest Shamblers recently. Maybe I was smarter here? Maybe the metal minis helped weigh things down? Either way, these ended up much better.

The Guardian Brutes were a very different unit when I first built them up. Previously, they lacked Pathfinder, but were one of the only units in the entire Herd roster to get Defense 5, which is why I built them up originally. With the rest of the collection being speedy glass-cannons, I felt that something probably needed to hold the line and contest open terrain. That could have been a folly; I didn't get to play much of the Herd.

Their stats have changed a bit with the new edition. The game got rebalanced and units across various armies fell more into similar categories (the Brutes here are kind of a large infantry berserker unit type now, like Ogre Berserkers or Salamander Tyrants, with lots of attacks but hitting on 4's). However the Guardian Brutes have been granted the Herd's army-wide Pathfinder special rule now, which is very nice! Pathfinder is a really strong ability, even on a slower unit, so these Brutes should be a much more attractive options nowadays, able to sneak through terrain and connect with Thunderous Charge.

Rear Regiment finished. I still like the mini on the right the best of all the sculpts.
Reminds me of a hockey player or something.

Front Regiment finished.

With so many attacks, any buffs or magic items or hot dice are likely to have a huge impact on their performance. Gaining Pathfinder is again great for the unit, and having a second horde's worth of models will certainly give my growing Herd army some more options in list-building! I think these will do well for the army, and will try to put that hypothesis to the test soon!

Hobby Update: Forest Shamblers

I got a small work bonus work in March, so I let myself pick up a few new things to hobby on, including these new Forest Shamblers here. 

The finished units. Two shambling hordes of trees.

These "Young Ent" models are originally from Castnplay if my STL sleuthing is correct. The models are pretty fun-looking, and have 4 variants. With only 3 models in a normal large infantry regiment, you can easily make units that look similar but with unique posing, which is great for wargaming. The poses and faces are menacing, and the models have a lot of character.

I picked mine up from an etsy shop, The Bard's Forge. I thought the minis would be far bigger and take up roughly a 50mm base each, but most fit quite easily on a round 32mm, with only the striding one needing a 40mm base due to the very long stride. Being smaller than I thought, I actually had to go back and place a second order from the shop to run the two hordes of Forest Shamblers like I wanted to. Both transactions were speedy and wonderful, so feel encouraged to browse their offerings if you are in the US.

The shop did a great job scraping off all the supports from the print so there wasn't much prep work I actually needed to do! I still rinsed the minis with warm water, and in between rain and snow storms (Wisconsin seemed to get something about once a week in March), primed them once they dried. I tried to copy the bark paint scheme I had with the Hunters of the Wild. I think I dropped one of the many, many layers here with the Shamblers though, but they are close enough, and the minis took the dry brushing quite well. 

Yeah, too much white I think.

The leaves on the Hunters were basically one-offs and easier to highlight. I tried the same thing here, but with all the dry brushing on the bark bodies, there just wasn't enough variation between the bark and all the leaves after my first painting attempt. It looked like I had wanted everything to be the same colors but forget a step on the leaves, which wasn't a great look. I threw an ivory dry brush over the leaves to set them apart, but didn't like that result either, since that didn't really look like leaves at all.

In the end, I used some Speed Paints over the leaves. A quick pass of Pallid Bone gave a yellowed effect much more like dead leaves. I then added Zealot Yellow on spots that got poor coverage from the Pallid Bone, giving some nice gradation for the dried leaves, and I am much happier with the results here after using the Speed Paints.

Bad warping, but better leaves.

The minis are great, but unit bases proved to be quite a disappointment though. I have a stockpile of spare unit bases from Ironheart Artisans that I've been dipping into as needed. They are usually great, but the manufacturer seems to have changed their processes in the last few years, and now the bases seem to be weaker and more prone to bending. Here they developed a very definite warp, with all the corners lifting up a few millimeters. I didn't add any cork board sections on these bases, so maybe all the basing efforts was just too much glue in total, or was too much applied to quickly, causing the warp?

I was just going to deal with it for now and make future me deal with potentially rebasing in the future, but the warping was significant enough that when I went to put these away, every regiment easily slipped up and over and out of the movement trays I was intending to use. I was moving slow and was able to catch everything, but I decided that I needed to try and find a solution before calling these units finished. Dropping units on the floor is something to be avoided!

Medium Duty clamps in action.

I tried brute force, bending and flexing the bases, but to no avail, and the bases continued their upward bends. I have heard applying glue on the underside can help, but with minis already glued down and the bends so corkscrewed, I wasn't sure if I could get the surface flat enough for the glue to stay put to cure properly, let alone sitting in the right areas to fully counter the corkscrew.

In a little bout of madness I chose to try and steam the bases, hoping some gentle heat and dampness would mess with the MDF and let me bent it back into a better position. I selected two, and over a large steamer / strainer implement, brought some water to a gentle boil, and then let the units soak up the steam for a few moments. Just that proved to be too much though, and the underside of one of the bases began to flake and deteriorate. Still, both seemed more pliable, so I clamped them to the coffee table for a few hours. 

As a fun aside, the clamps I had are apparently for "Medium Duty" clamping, which just tickled me as a concept. I have only ever heard "heavy duty" as a way to describe allegedly durable hardware, so this was a fun chuckle while working. Unfortunately, these methods were also to no avail, and once unclamped, the warping persisted and the regiments still refused to stay in their trays. Sheesh. 

Already yellowing...

As if all the warping wasn't enough, I noticed some yellow discoloration on some of the units already. I had noticed this in some of my older snowy units, but never quite figured out why. Looks like excess super glue is the source of this evil! Some paint around the join should solve this, but I had had enough of fiddling around at this point. Thankfully, I had just enough spare large infantry unit bases in my stockpile to just set about redoing all the bases entirely.

The setbacks kept coming on these units though! The miniature with the early yellowing issue proved hard to remove, as the super glue had seeped in deep, and in attempting to remove him, I ended up shattering him, breaking both forearms off, a claw bit, both lower leg bits as well as one thigh. Resin minis are quite brittle as it turns out! I ended up totally losing the claw and thigh pieces, and both of which needed to be green-stuffed back into existence.

New bits are all cured. 

I am not good with green stuff, but tried my best, and appear to be learning a few tricks after all these years. What has done me in previously is adding in too much too fast, and not leaving any time to let things cure and harden. I hoped to avoid that mistake here, adding in a thin "femur-like" connection first. 

Since the connection would hold the weight up the miniature, I propped this up among some paint pots and small tools, arranging things so that it should set while still being upright. All balanced, I let it sit undisturbed for 12 hours to fully cure and harden up.

The bark effect for these was basically just a lot of gouges, so over the following day, I mixed up just a tiny amount of green stuff at a time, rolling out a tendril-like piece and then wrapping it around the femur, waiting a few hours, and then doing it again. Over a day I slowly built the leg connection up piece by piece, letting it all cure for another full 12 hours after adding in the last piece. I was still a little unsure about it, but after throwing some paint on it, the fixed mini blended in just fine with the others, and I was feeling satisfied. 

Redoing the bases, slowly.

For the new bases, I also took things slow over a few days, in the hopes of reducing any potential warping. Doing all the basing a third time was something I was quite desperate to avoid!

I felt like excess glue likely caused the most of the warping issues from before, so I tried to reduce the amount of glue used this time. I first glued on some cork board, adding basing paste the next day. The paste is basically just glue and sand, so this was added quite sparingly. Empty spaces would either be done up as little ponds, or eventually covered with the snow effect, so heavier or complete coverage with the basing paste was avoided here.

For future me, basing colors for the ground are any gray for a base coat, followed by a full layer of 09021 Snow Shadow from Reaper, then a dry brush of ivory, or some other off-white color, to better accent the whiter snow effect added later.

Finished horde #1.

Finished horde #2.

On the table, these should be pretty unique units for me, and I based them in regiments to give me even more flexibility in any future lists. Surge and Shambling moves can be a big part of the game, but are not something I have really explored at all yet in any of my main armies. These particular units intrigued me though, since in addition to the surge shenanigans they can pull off, they also have both Pathfinder and Scout. A Scout-move ignores Shambling, so these seem like a neat way to apply pressure early and box an enemy wing in. I'm not sure how sound a strategy that really is, as these don't hit particularly hard, but it certainly should be fun to test out sometime! I was hoping I'd had a more balanced list and a debut battle with the Herd in April, but the Shamblers here took a long time and delayed a lot of my hobby efforts. We'll have to introduce them to the table another time!

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #035: Abyssals vs Northern Alliance [Dominate]

Intro and Lists

With the first game over pretty quickly, we had plenty of time for a second! Cartwright's second list was quite similar to his first for the day, and he ran another strong Northern Alliance list.

As before, there are some Snow Foxes are around to disrupt. Dwarf Clansmen were around to grab objectives, and three troops of Pack Hunters could do the same while pressuring with the bows or threatening supporting, Pathfinding charges. Two Hordes of monstrous Snow Trolls are around to do the heavy fighting with Regen and CS2. Two potent Cavern Dwellers are around again, and a unit of mighty Huscarls now join the ranks. Leading the army are his duo of Lords on Frostfangs, and a Snow Troll Prime again.

We were both exploring unit sizes for ranged units, and had decided to match-up regiments vs troops for a little added variation. He was running troops this time, so I am running my list with regiments:

This list was the more "normal" of the two lists for me from the day, if such a thing can even be said of my scatter-brained list-building ways. We've got a lot of regiments exploring some of the regimental MSU play that I like to try from time to time. Up to test for me are:

• Abyssal Guard. They seem a little expensive, but have a neat mix of stats and rules. They won't carry the day, but seem like they could be useful as smaller combat blocks.
• Flamebearer Regiments. These have been staples in my Abyssals lists, and I am trying out one more regiment than is usual for me. The plan is to stick two units with each Seductress, Enthrall stuff, and then shoot at it.  
• Tortured Souls. Without Nimble, early positioning seems to be very important. These still have potential I think, but I am struggling to use them effectively, so just need to keep at it.
• Abyssal Fiend. The Fiend can fight, inspire, score, and even lob some fireballs in a pinch. I think it has a lot of potential in a combined-arms style list, so we'll see how it does.
• Abyssal Champion & Lightning Bolt. The Champion also has potential in a combined-arms style list, especially with the Lightning Bolt upgrade. He cannot score, but should be able to contribute at just about any stage of the game.
• Seductress with Enthrall. I often take Flamebearers for my Abyssal lists, and often find myself going first, since 5" move and 18" range means I won't be able to shoot at anything with them, excepting something like a scout move. Enthrall on the Seductresses should let me draw something out and shoot it on turn 1, and that's the plan with the Flamebearers here.
• Regimental MSU. Important units for this army, like Flamebearers and Abyssal Guard, top out at the regimental unit size, so I think this playstyle might still have some potential, especially in more casual play. We'll see how this playstyle works for the Abyssals in the second game.
• Battle Report Template. This is my second try at a report using my note-taking template. I forgot my foam die to help track rounds in my pictures though, so we'll see how this goes...

I again had the slightest of edges in drops (16: 15) and Unit Strength (25:24), but I didn't think I had any good answers for the Cavern Dwellers besides avoidance. I was running a lot of smaller elements, and lacked any significant melee power. I was putting a lot of faith in my shooting this time! We both have tended towards more combined-arms lists recently, which have made for some very enjoyable games over the last year. The Northern Alliance don't have much for cavalry, but they do everything else pretty well. We should be in for a bloody game! 

Deployment and Table

We generated a new table, and got Dominate for the new scenario, which is the King of the Hill scenario. At the end of the game, we'll total things up and see who has the most unit strength within 12" from the center of the board.

My opponent decided to neglect the left entirely, instead focusing on pressuring and holding the center while pushing on the right. For his deployments we have Dwarves screening a Cavern Dweller and Lord on Frostfang, Snow Trolls screening Snow Foxes, Snow Troll Prime, Snow Trolls screening Huscarls, three Pack Hunter troops screening a Lord and more Snow Foxes, with the final Cavern Dweller out on the far-right.

A compact deployment for a strong and sturdy NA list.

I opted to go wider, hoping to encircle my opponent while bombarding the center. On the left I have two units of Tortured Souls and some Gargoyles. An Abyssal Fiend anchors the line, with Abyssal Guard and a Seductress nearby. Given the scenario, I chose to throw out the plan of pairs and really try to bring the heat down on the center field. The center of my line has three regiments of Flamebearers and the Abyssal Champion with Lighting Bolt.

View from the left. Uncontested, hopefully the Tortured Souls can do work.

A building broke up my line. On the other side of it, is another Abyssal Fiend, and more Abyssal Guard in reserve. The fourth regiment of Flamebearers ended up on the right to try and trade fire with the Hunters, and we have more Gargoyles, some Tortured Souls and a Seductress around to try and delay, pressure, or sweep around depending on how things go.

My opponent was wary of my Flamebearer regiments, and having already shown my hand with my Seductress trick during last game, he chose to go first and be aggressive; trying to dictate what I could / had to shoot at with my Flamebearers.

Top of Round 1: Northern Alliance

The Northern Alliance advanced swiftly. Both regenerating Snow Trolls were pushed pretty far up, ready to take some early volleys in the hopes that they could make it into combat quickly and the damage could be regenerated away.

Aggressive. Even the Dwarves were moving at the double!

On the right, two of the Pack Hunters gravitated towards the safety of the woods. Wanting to get line of sight from out of the woods, the Lord joins the two Pack Hunters. The third unit was wary of long flying charges, and held back, along with the Snow Foxes and Cavern Dweller. 

Go figure. Cartwright's tricky shooters have secured the woods.

Bottom of Round 1: Abyssals

The unopposed left of the Abyssals pushed up aggressively. The Gargoyles fly up their full speed and nimbly pivot, threatening some flanks already, though admittedly they aren't that scary against all the Defense 5 around these parts. The angled Tortured Souls moved at the double, but aren't quite in range for anything next turn. The other unit of Souls also moved at the double forward, but lacking nimble, cannot pivot. The goal with them was to try and get up and around and put my opponent on a bit of a clock against impending rear-charges, but lacking nimble, these are a bit hard to use and I struggled with some positioning. With things already in range for my shooting, the Seductress here flew up far ahead, evading charge arcs for now, and will look for ways to contribute in the coming rounds. My opponent knows I like them, so purposefully did not bring any individuals in hope of limiting their effectiveness.

Uncontested, but still untidy. Tortured Souls are hard to use.

My center inched back as far as they could; wary of the speedier Snow Trolls. The Fiends moved into range, and a unit of Gargoyles moved up to screen a Fiend from a horde of Snow Trolls. I forgot about the Champ's Lightning Bolt, but three regiments of Flamebearers tossed into the Snow Trolls in the center of the board, joined by fireballs from both Fiends. It's a fiery, evil cacophony, but not as effective or decisive as I would have hoped. A total of 10 damage is inflicted, and the Trolls are merely wavered. Still, for this early in the game, that isn't bad if I can remove them before Regeneration can make a difference.

The killing field.

On the right, the Seductress flies forward, and then enthralls one of the Pack Hunters, drawing them part way out of their woods. They only move 2" unwillingly, and unfortunately for me still get cover (and are still stealthy). But the Flamebearers get some lucky 6's to hit, and manage 2 damage against the unit.

Top of Round 2: Northern Alliance

On the right, all three Pack Hunters will shoot into the Flamebearers, and will remove them with a good Nerve check. The Snow Foxes charge in to disorder and ground the Tortured Souls, but fail to land any damage. The Cavern Dweller advances, juuust getting into charge range against the Abyssal Guard and Flamebearers over here. .

A very opportune flank charge for the Lord on Frostfang!

I was hoping my opponent would not see it, or risk it, but I did move the Fiend up to throw it's Fireball, and was now giving up a potential flank charge here. A resounding 10 damage is done, but thankfully for me, the Fiend holds with a Nerve check on the low side.

Centrally, the injured Snow Trolls move back to regenerate while the other unit moves up. The forward movement lets the Huscarls make a hindered charge into the screening Gargoyles. The elite warriors from the frozen north deal 8 damage, but the dice produce the feared snake eyes for the resulting Nerve Check, and the Gargoyles are unbothered.

Oh disaster! The Gargoyles are found to be quite insane. 

The central Snow Foxes rush towards the Flamebearers to threaten some disordering charges next turn, but the sly creatures do not reach anything this turn. 

The Cavern Dweller remains behind to protect the Dwarves.

With no charges, the Snow Troll Prime just moves up, as do the short-legged Dwarves. The Dwarves are still giving a (hindered) flank charge to the Gargoyles though. The Gargoyles can also reach the Cavern Dweller, who can't get away, so he turns to face things down and threaten a charge against anything threatening the nearby Dwarves.

Bottom of Round 2: Abyssals

I decide to charge the Gargoyles into the Cavern Dweller, and use that combat to move up with both units of Tortured Souls. Positioning is still a bit of an issue, but they are making progress swinging around the enemy line.

More delaying from the Abyssals. Followed by more shooting.

The Champion charges out against the Snow Foxes, but is unable to get rid of them. I believe they are perpetually Wavered from this point on.

The insane Gargoyles don't regenerate much, and will disengage, forcing another hindered charge from the Huscarls next turn. The Flamebearers all shoot into the new Snow Troll unit, dealing about the same damage and wavering them as well.

Stalled out, the intrepid Lord on Frostfang will be counter-charged by the Fiend, flanked by the Guard, and cut down. The Guard will overrun and get out of line of sight of the lurking Cavern Dweller.

A brave move, but it does not pay off for the Lord.

Out on the right, the Tortured Souls disengage, and make a hindered charge into a unit of Pack Hunters, dealing only a few damage, but still getting the disorder. The Seductress charges another, and will win her fight. These were very fortunate charges and combats for me this turn, as the Cavern Dweller has no charges for the upcoming turn. I didn't have much that could deal with it, so avoiding it seemed like the best play.

Top of Round 3: Northern Alliance

We think it's the top of 4, but that isn't actually true. I hadn't taken any notes for Round 2 (or Round 3, for reasons), and my opponent was manning the dice tracker, so with our powers combined, we screwed up significantly...

On the right, the Cavern Dweller moves towards my lines menacingly, eager to fight something. One unit of Pack Hunters will counter-charge the Tortured Souls and deal 1, while the other unit will flank charge the Abyssal Guard and deal 2. It was some pretty cold dice for my opponent.

The Abyssal Guard get lucky.

The Snow Troll Prime rolls well though, charging in and dealing 4 damage to a unit of Flamebearers, who are found to be Wavered with the check.

The Snow Troll Prime reaches the Flamebearer lines.

The Cavern Dweller on the left crushes the Gargoyles as expected, and it, the nearby Lord, Snow Trolls and a unit of Dwarves all turn to face the oncoming Tortured Souls. 

Bottom of Round 3: Abyssals

My Tortured Souls don't have a lot of great options. Aside from the Cavern Dweller, I couldn't commit them both to the same target due to spacing issues. With so much facing them, I figured future pressure was the best use them, though only one could get clear, and without Nimble couldn't reposition to pressure again next turn. The other unit could not evade, so charged into the Lord on Frostfang, since that unit cannot heal.

The Seductress joined the fleeing Tortured Souls. The Abyssal Fiend threw a Fireball into the Dwarf unit facing him, and then the Seductress Enthralled the unit, drawing them towards my opponent's deployment zone.

Centrally, the Abyssal Guard flank-charge the Snow Troll Prime, roll well and dispatch him. The Champion continues to struggle against the Snow Foxes, dealing just 1 damage and Wavering them for a second time. 

The Champion is trying his best. Or so I'm told. 

The two untouched Flamebearer units toss into the Snow Trolls, who have been getting cover from the Foxes the last few turns. The Snow Trolls had regenerated a few damage, took about the same in new damage this turn, and are just Wavered again. We are 3 for 3 for volleys wavering Snow Troll Hordes, but just can't quite get the job done it seems.

Combats out on the right. 

With shots going into the Snow Trolls, the Abyssal Fiend is forced to ignore their flank, and smashes into the Huscarls. He is not likely to break them, but he is likely dead next turn, and I want to put damage on the Huscarls for later, since they cannot heal. 

The nearby Abyssal Guard fight their Pack Hunter foes, but are only able to deal 4 damage, getting just a Waver. The Tortured Souls are able dispatch their unit though, and will remain in the woods, turning to face the center of the board. Being an individual, the Seductress is able to change facing and charge the Snow Foxes. Catching the unit of critters in the flank does nothing mechanically, but she is still able to cut them down. The Abyssal Champion should be taking notes!

Top of Round 4: Northern Alliance

We again think it is Round 5, when it is actually Round 4.

The Huscarls counter-charge the Fiend, landing a fair bit of new damage on the titan, and this will see him leave the field. The Pack Hunters will disengage and move back, giving the Cavern Dweller space to crash into the Abyssal Guard. The blows are heavy, but the monster's coordination is a bit off, and only new 6 damage is done in the end. Being Fearless, the Guard is just able to hold on against a good Nerve Check.

The Abyssal Guard takes a beating, but remains.

Both Snow Troll units continue to regenerate a few damage each turn. One unit joins the Lord in counter-charging some Tortured Souls, and together they will easily break the ghostly unit. The Lord will spin to face the center, while the Snow Trolls look chase the nearby Tortured Souls away.

End of the round.

The Snow Trolls near the center of the board is wavered and relatively safe from combats. My opponent is fine with them soaking fire and regenerating, so they stay put.

Bottom of Round 4: Abyssals

Out on the right, the Seductress charges the final troop of Pack Hunters, ending them too. The Abyssal Guards  will regenerate 1 damage, and then counter-charge the Cavern Dweller. It seems futile against Lifeleech 3, but it's all they really have for options. Thankfully, the Huscarls are still pointed at the Guard as well, so the Guard will tie up some scary units next turn and buy me some time.

The Tortured Souls on the right are in the woods, and make a hindered rear-charge into the wavering Snow Trolls. Rereading the Fly rule, the unit didn't end up touching the Difficult Terrain, so I guess this should have been a clean charge, and that fliers can charge out of terrain? We ruled it a hindered charge at the time. As such, the damage isn't amazing, but with triple the attacks, enough slips through, forcing another Nerve check, and this finally is enough to force some Trolls from the field! 

Finally, the Snow Trolls fall. 

The remaining Abyssal Fiend crashes into a unit of Dwarves, wavering them. The Abyssal Guard continues to scoot around the woods nearby. 

The Seductress hops over the Cavern Dweller, safe from charges. Trying to prevent a charge from the other unit of Dwarves against the Abyssal Guard, she enthralls them, drawing them back towards the enemy deployment zone... and scores enough hits to bring them back far enough to eye up the flank of the Abyssal Fiend nearby instead. Whoops! The Abyssal Guards provide some cover, but all of the remaining Flamebearers toss into the enthralled Dwarves, and are able to burn away the threat of a flank charge into the Fiend.

Top of Round 5: Northern Alliance

I look to have forgotten a picture. And again, we think this is Round 6. The reporting is getting a little rocky and unreliable...

The furious Dwarves counter-charge the Fiend, dealing a surprising 5 damage. The Lord opts to charge the Abyssal Guard, but is unable to break the regiment. The Huscarls and Cavern Dweller easily cut down the second regiment of Guard together, and turn to face my Flamebearers. The Huscarls change facing, and should just barely be scoring as well.

The remaining Snow Trolls face my opponent's deployment zone, giving the Tortured Souls a front charge only, while importantly still scoring for the scenario. 

The other Cavern Dweller makes a long flank-charge into the Tortured Souls that just removed the Snow Trolls last turn. The Dweller doesn't roll great for extra attacks, and just deals 7 damage to them, and the Tortured Souls hold, due to being Fearless.

Bottom of Round 5: Abyssals

Still thinking it is Round 6, the pressure is on! I need to get to the middle while killing some units.

After maneuvering on my turn.

The Flamebearers all move up and into the scoring zone. They all toss into the Huscarls. I actually remember my Champion and his Lightning Bolts, and with the few extra damage, the fearsome melee unit is blasted off the table.

After shooting on my turn.

The Seductresses fly about, and make great use of Enthrall. One yanks the remaining Snow Trolls out of the scoring zone entirely, while the other tries to pull the Cavern Dweller out of position as well. I think it still has a potential charge into the Flamebearers, but still, this move felt good.

After combat on my turn.

The injured Tortured Souls disengage from the Cavern Dweller, taking a penalized flank charge into the Dwarves as the Fiend assaults them from the front, and it is enough to break the unit.

The Tortured Souls were not charged by the looming Snow Trolls, since they needed to score. They have the inches to make a rear charge into the Lord on Frostfang, and does so, joined by the Abyssal Guard in the front, and the Northern Alliance Lord is dragged down.

Thinking that it is Round 6, and realizing he doesn't really have any great game-winning charges, my opponent opts to simply call it here. As we wrap up, I should have all three units of Flamebearers (6 Unit Strength total), a unit of Abyssal Guard (3), an Abyssal Fiend (1) and two units of Tortured Souls (4 Unit Strength total) scoring, against just the Cavern Dweller of the Northern Alliance, making it a 14-1 victory for the Forces of the Abyss. 

Game Conclusions

What a game! My opponent definitely got the short end of the stick though with a troublesome Insane Courage result to delay his potent Huscarls, and then us accidentally dropping a full round of turns. Had we known it was actually Round 5, the Snow Trolls would have for sure charged and trounced the Tortured Souls, preventing the rear-charge into the Lord on Frostfang and putting him in a bit of a better spot with his final moves on the real final turn.

Dropping a full turn does not bode well for the competency of my note taking. I had accidentally left my big foam d6 tracker at home. We were using a small tracker to help, but must have sped it up accidentally sometime around Round 2. I didn't have notes for Rounds 2 or 3, and referring to the tracker, we skipped on right to Round 4. Oops.

Generally, I think I played a good game here. The scenario was pretty ideal for this list, and my early decision to put three Flameberers near the center was the right call. I think 2&2 with Seductresses is a possible way to run these little groups, and could be viable in some match ups, but given the scenario and all the Defense 5 opposing me, I wanted that firepower more centrally located. Even with cover penalties for about a third of the volleys due to the wavered Foxes or other intervening units, the weight of fire eventually won the day.

Testing Conclusions

• Abyssal Guard. They aren't amazing, but thanks to Fearless, they do seem decent. I don't think I used them well either game, so I'll continue to explore the unit as opportunities come up. Even with the weapon-swap they don't hit all that hard, so I need to figure out what other units to run them with. 
• Flamebearers. I relied on my ranged units this game and they thankfully, ultimately delivered! Regiments seems to be the way to go. The extra Nerve is just so important.
• Tortured Souls. They finally delivered with some very important charges, but this has not been the norm for them. I don't think I was using them particularly well. With an open flank they still struggled to get into good positions and just didn't feel maneuverable. Maybe a combined-arms approach, deployed closer to some Abyssal Guard could be worth exploring. 
• Abyssal Fiend. Again, these were bright spots in the list, and I even forgot some of their rules throughout the day. They have some great Nerve for their cost, and are just really versatile units. A few more games and I'll have their rules down I think.
• Abyssal Champion. Had I remembered the Lightning Bolt during Round 1, I may have been able to shoot off the Snow Trolls and kick things off properly. In the end though, he was around to protect the Flamebearers and his Lightning did help end the Huscarls. He seemed to flub a lot, but ultimately did his job, and this seems like a great loadout for the hero, bringing a lot of utility for not too steep a cost.
• Seductress with Enthrall. These performed way better I expected them to. They were maingly fighting low-defense things, but were doing a couple of damage in each combat, and then they also got some very nice Enthralls as the game progressed, which I was not expecting. Being able to preserve these for the entirety of the game really helped me out, and if nothing else, they were a lot of fun to use!
• Regimental MSU. It is definitely a very difficult playstyle, and performance would probably benefit from running a more practiced list, but this game was a lot of fun, and the victory definitely helps my motivation to keep exploring the playstyle as the mood strikes.
• Battle Report Template. Oof. A very big fail here! When my opponent mentioned it was the start of Round 4, I was surprised, but my brain was mushy. It's been a very long and stressful few months for me. I think this sheet will get better the more I use it and the more I am used to having it around. I have 4 more printouts ready, so I'll keep after this for the next few games, and then reevaluate how I am doing.  

Rolling some dice was a much needed break for me. A big thank you to my opponent for fitting these games in over the weekend! It's always a great time throwing down and I'm looking forward to our next battles!

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #034: Abyssals vs Northern Alliance [Push]

Intro and Lists:

After well over a month of repeated misses due to a myriad of personal and scheduling issues on my side of things, forum-goer Cartwright and I were able to finally connect again for some more games! He was playing his fearsome Northern Alliance again, and ran the following for our first game of the day:

Some Snow Foxes are around to disrupt my movements, as usual. Dwarf Clansmen are around to play the scenario, and regiments of Pack Hunters could do the same while pressuring with their bows. Two Hordes of the monstrous Snow Trolls are around to do the heavy fighting, and with Regen and CS2 should be able to do grindy combats particularly well. Two new and potent Cavern Dwellers appear, which have served me and my Varangur very well before, and seem very nice monsters. Supporting those miniature giants is an actual giant, armed with a cleaver to get the wonderful titan-on-titan combats we all like to see. Leading the force are his usual duo of Lords on Frostfangs, plus a Snow Troll Prime. As-ever, my opponent brought a very strong-looking list! He's also made some upgrades and additions to things, and more units are getting the winged hussar treatment. The army is looking quite good these days!

Unfortunately, my schedule was still proving to be quite insane, even with an open day. I was hoping to get the Herd in a semi-sensible state, but I quickly realized that exploring a brand new army was going to be too tall an order on my brain right now, so instead I threw together some Abyssals lists exploring some regimental MSU play, and exploring my ranged attack options. As it turns out, we were both messing around with Troop vs Regiments on some ranged units, and so decided to run the regiments lists against the troops lists for some added variation in the match-up. Since my opponent had regiments for this game, I ran my list with the troops of Flamebearers, which was the following:

This list was the more experimental of the two for my lists on the day, downgrading my Flamebearers to the smaller troop-size, and using the points I saved to pick up some more melee-focused options. Up to test for me are:

• Abyssal Guard with Sacrificial Imps. The regiments are costly, but with Regeneration and Fearless, they seem viable, so we'll see how they do. I had the points, so gave Imps to both. Hopefully, Fearless will let take a big hit, the poor Imps will let the regenerate a few a few more wounds, and the unit come out on top in some combats.
• Flamebearer Troops. My opponent is wary of the Flamebearers and all the focus-firing I tend to try. As troops though, they have a few less attacks and a bit less Nerve. Will the downgrades be noticeable at all, or will these still perform well?
• Oathbreakers. I have a lot of infantry, so I figured these should be brought along too. Will Rally help with anything, like perhaps buffing the aforementioned Flamebearer troops?
• Tortured Souls. I still don't have a great feel for these yet. Lacking Nimble, they just aren't as quick and threatening as I'd like them to be. They are not a forgiving unit so far, so I need to try and use these better in my games. We'll see how they do this time.
• Abyssal Fiends. I think these have a lot of potential, especially in a MSU-style list. At just 175 points, these can inspire, fight, and even shoot a bit, providing a lot of flexibility for a list, and should pair particularly well with any Flamebearers nearby.
• Seductress with Enthrall. This was a secret technique I stumbled upon. Often, my Abyssals lists feature Flamebearers, and often, I am forced to go first. With the 18" range and 5" move, I can't quite shoot anything first turn. This should hopefully let me draw something out 2" from the enemy lines, and be able to shoot it first turn.
• Regimental MSU.  Important units for this army like Flamebearers and Abyssal Guard top out at the regimental size, so I think this playstyle might still have some potential, especially in more casual play. We'll see how some troops do, and how this playstyle works for the Abyssals!
• Battle Report Template. I finally sat down and finished off a reporting template, to hopefully help me with my note-taking. Unfortunately, I left my large foam die behind, so I'm breaking even for my game-tracking aids. My opponent stuck a die in the ruins to help track and I tried to take notes with the template. We'll see how things go.

I had a small edge in both drops (17:14) and Unit Strength (26:24), but no serious threats. My opponent noted that I had a lot of stuff, but no single unit was all that threatening. My units would need to work together for any wins, which is in line with how MSU plays generally.

Conversely, my opponent had many scary things! The two hordes of regenerating Snow Trolls will each take a lot of effort to remove, and should resist chip damage well. Along these same lines, the Cavern Dwellers will be a serious threats in melee, and will quickly Lifeleech back any ranged chip damage I do manage land against them. On top of all this, he has a Frost Giant. Fighting against any of those scary units will need to be swift and decisive.

Deployment and Table

We were playing out at his home, and my opponent had a table and terrain set up by the time I arrived. As usual for us, the ruins were Height 9 blocking buildings, the forests were Height 6 Difficult Terrain, fences were Height 2 Obstacles, and Hills were Height 3. 

View from the left.

Left-to-right my opponent had the Pack Hunters with Bows, Lord on Frostfang, more Pack Hunters, Snow Troll Prime, both units of Dwarves, the Frost Giant, the Snow Trolls with both tokens screening some Snow Foxes, and a Cavern Dweller. A ruin broke up his line, and flank had another Lord, more Snow Trolls screening more Foxes, and the second Cavern Dweller.

View from the center.

I definitely did not have a great idea how to deploy my list. Running a more MSU-style list, I wanted to keep two Flamebearers near each Seductress, and that was about as far as I got for planning...

Out on the left, I had two Tortured Souls, Gargoyles, and some Abyssal Guard. Centrally, we have a Seductress, two troops of Flamebearers, Abyssal Fiend, Oathbreakers and Lower Abyssals on the hill. then two more Flamebearer troops, the second Seductress, Abyssal Guard, Abyssal Fiend, and Tortured Souls screening Gargoyles.

View from the right, against a very scary Northern Alliance flank.

We had rolled up Push for the Scenario, and got 2 Loot Tokens apiece. I chose to spread my tokens out, one with the Abyssal Guard on my far-left, and one with the Lower Abyssals. My opponent chose to have his central Snow Trolls unit carry both of his scenario tokens. We will score 1 point per token at the end of the game, or 2 points for any token carried on our opponent's starting half of the game board.

My opponent won the roll off and made me go first, intending for me to miss out on a round of my Flamebearer shooting. Mwahaha!

Top of Round 1: Abyssals

Over on the left, the Tortured Souls move up 12", using the hill to hide from the bowmen of the Northern Alliance. The Gargoyles move up and pivot, thinking they might need to intercept stuff in the middle soon. Unfortunately, this blocks out the Abyssal Guard a bit, and they cannot move too far, though this does keep them out of range of the bowmen.

I could have been more aggressive with the Guard, but they also had the token, so I was wary of just throwing them forward unsupported.

My center and right all move up 5", as I don't really know what to do. The Northern Alliance list is scary, and I don't think I have the means to be extremely aggressive.

A cautious center, trying to spring some sneaky traps. 

The Seductresses hatch their plan, drawing out a Cavern Dweller and a unit of Dwarves with their Enthrall moves. Their accompanying Flamebearer troops fling fire. A few damage lands on the Dwarves, but only 1 damage slips in onto the Cavern Dweller. It is not as impactful a surprise as I would have liked, as his units are all so sturdy. I am forced to pass the turn.

The trap is... sprung?

Apologies to my opponent for being underprepared though. As we found out at the end of the day,  the Enthrall spell only has an 18" range. The Seductress on the right is probably fine and in range, but the one on the left should be a few more inches up. I ran into some subscription issues with the Companion, and haven't had the time to get them sorted. While I was able to do up some free lists for the games, the special rules detail and spells and such were not included there in the free versions, and my memory failed me on the range of the spell. I thought it was longer, and should have looked it up and confirmed prior to trying to cast it. Thankfully, the other castings were done closer, and this should be the only error with the spell's range from the battles on the day, and now I know for next time.

Bottom of Round 1: Northern Alliance

Over on the left, the Pack Hunters and Lord on Frostfang remain in the woods, but all shuffle around slightly, with the hunters moving forward to get into range. Both Pack Hunters loose their bows at the nearest Flamebearer unit, scoring just two damage but will Waver them.

Turns out the Bow-version does not have Steady Aim? Their damage output suffers a bit this turn.

The Snow Foxes hop over to help screen and interdict for their respective Snow Troll units, and the Northern Alliance lines start moving up. The Cavern Dweller cannot make any charges this turn, but moves up to threaten some next turn. Since the Abyssals in the center are predominately infantry, the varied units of the Northern Alliance are free to move up as far as they wish without much fear.

The Northern Alliance pushes up, threatening some Round 2 charges.

My opponent takes extra care on the right, moving the Snow Foxes in-line with the edge of the Snow Trolls to prevent the Abyssal Guard from charging them too, should the Tortured Souls opt to fight. It is very smart positioning from my opponent. The Lord and Cavern Dweller hang safely back from any major charges, ready to counter-attack as-needed, should I wish to start anything.

Top of Round 2: Abyssals

I decide to commit my Gargoyles to some fights, hoping to disrupt my opponent's movement a bit, buy time for my shooting to do more, and force some positional decisions from my opponent next turn.

In got the Seductress and Gargoyles over on the right.

On the right, the Gargoyles charge the Snow Foxes, and thankfully, will shred them. The Seductress charges into the Lord on Frostfang to delay him for a turn while the Abyssal Guard futz around in the forest. They and the Abyssal Fiend and Tortured Souls here are ready for combat in round 3.

A few small-but-ill-advised combats to kick things off.

On the left, I do similar things. The Seductress charges in to disorder a Pack Hunter regiment. The Gargoyles flank charge the Snow Troll Prime, who easily holds. I can't remember if the Prime actually had a charge next turn or not. I don't think he did, so I think I was being a bit foolish here. In that case, the better play would have been to hit the flank of the Hunters along with the Seductress, and try to just remove that unit.

The Tortured Souls slowly start to swing around on the left, and the Abyssal Guard meanders around holding the token. Unfortunately the Souls didn't have the height to see over the hill to contribute to combats this turn.

Still, all of the combats will buy some time for the Flamebearers to try things. Each pair will back up, and throw into their same unit. On the right, the duo deal another 1 to the Cavern Dweller, bringing it to 2 damage total, though by backing up, I do deny it a charge next turn. On the left, the Dwarves are brought up to 9 damage total and are Wavered, with the Fiend adding a damage or two with his Fireball against the unit.

Bottom of Round 2: Northern Alliance

The Northern Alliance counter-attacks. A regiment of Pack Hunters counter-charge the Seductress, and are joined by the Lord on Frostfang. I forget that the Seductress has Ensnare, but I doubt that would have made a difference. She will be routed. The Hunters will change facing to see both units of Tortured Souls, and the Lord will do the same, but being taller then the hill, can also see my plodding Abyssal Guard.

The Seductress gets double-teamed... or something. I feel like there is a joke to be had here...

The other regiment comes to the aid of the Snow Troll Prime, flanking the Gargoyles, though despite Pathfinder, we discover that they should be hindered from Obstacles. Still, that's a lot of attacks in the flank, and the Gargoyles are not tough and will be easily scattered.

Occupying the attention of about 5x their points value, the Gargoyles take some hits! 

The center of Northern Alliance line secures the silly central obstacle, looking to draw out some hindered charges from the Abyssal infantry. The Ice Giant is able to hit the Oathbreakers with a frost breath, freezing them. I thought Frozen was just a keyword for other special abilities, but I learn than it has it's own effect, and reduces the speed of a unit, meaning the Oathbreakers actually cannot make any charges next turn since nothing is in range now. My center might be in some trouble...

I've retreated to the hill, but that is a lot of pressure coming in.

The pesky Snow Foxes opt for a long charge into the Lower Abyssals, landing some damage and will disorder them. It's a clear charge, and probably better than a hindered one through the woods against the Flamebearers, which might not result in any damage at all.

The scary flank barrels through the chaff.

Over on the right, the Lord trounces the Seductress, and I again forget that she has Ensnare. He makes a large overrun move. The Snow Trolls counter-charge the Gargoyles, and are joined by the Cavern Dweller. The Gargoyles are easily broken with so many attacks, and the Cavern Dweller makes a huge overrun move as well.

Top of Round 3: Abyssals

With the huge overrun by the Cavern Dweller, I am able to triple charge the Snow Trolls on my right with the Abyssal Guard (hindered), Abyssal Fiend and the Tortured Souls. I do some great damage for the situation, and get the Trolls up to what looks like 11 damage, but they are Inspired and the Nerve check isn't there, and they haven't a care in the world facing down three of my most "scary" units. On the plus-side, the Cavern Dweller is denied a charge here, so I've been doing an alright job of avoiding those so far.

A desperate triple charge, but no luck breaking the unit.

In the center, the Oathbreakers back up while the Lower Abyssals thankfully break the Snow Foxes and then do the same, trying to delay. The Flamebearers flit around the table, trying to move and block things and and frantically throw into the Giant, collectively dealing 9 to it, which isn't bad at all considering the circumstances.

The center retreats some more, with surprisingly good damage landing on the Frost Giant.

The Abyssal Titan charges in against the wounded Dwarf unit, and smashes them. The Fiend will change facing to eye up the Snow Troll Prime and Pack Hunters, and is just out of the charge arc of the Dwarves. Phew!

Even with a clear charge, double Tortured Souls can't break the Pack Hunters.

Out on the left, the front of Pack Hunters is outside of the woods, and I opt to send both regiments of Tortured Souls in against them. The Hunters should be wavered, but are still around, to my dismay. The Abyssal Guard moves up a bit again, slowed because I keep pivoting them around and being very indecisive with the unit.

Bottom of Round 3: Northern Alliance

The Lord on Frostfang charges the Abyssal Guard, looking to bully my other token, but he is unable to break them. The Prime charges the Abyssal Fiend, but only deals 2 damage. The Pack Hunters shoot into some Flamebearers, dealing 6 and wavering them, while the Dwarves make a hindered charge into another troop of Flamebearers, and rout them. 

It's not a good sign if the Dwarves make it into your ranged units...

The Giant charges the weaker Lower Abyssal regiment, but is only able to slip 2 new damage onto the unit. Wielding the Cleaver, only 1 additional attack was rolled up, and the die just did not treat the Frost Giant well at all.

The Frost Giant proves to be all bluster.

The Snow Trolls carrying both loot tokens charges one Flamebearer troop while the Cavern Dweller runs around and into a second troop hiding in the forest. Both troops are obliterated, and my shooting abilities are greatly reduced.

The retaliatory charges are not as devastating as I thought they'd be.

Out on the right, the Lord charges the Abyssal Guard, with the Snow Trolls counter-charging the same unit. Fortunately for me, the dice are ice cold, only 8 damage is done, and the unit holds. Unfortunately for the Abyssals, the Cavern Dweller here chances facing, ready to pounce next turn. It seems I cannot evade the monster forever...

Top of Round 4: Abyssals

The Abyssals regenerate some wounds and try to continue the fight, but things aren't looking good for me. My shooting is essentially gone, and don't think I have a list to piece trade well.

On the right, the Abyssal Guard counter-charges the Lord, taking him up from 1 damage to 4, which was disappointing at the time, but not too far below the typical results as it turns out. I've only got CS1 and the Lord is Defense 5, after all. The Fiend and Tortured Souls charge the Snow Trolls, with the latter getting into their flank now, thanks to some shuffling to center last turn. Thankfully the unit is routed! Unfortunately, the Cavern Dweller is right there and quite eager to contribute.

Mid-combat during the Top of Round 4.

Something is going to have a rear charge into the Fiend, and I give the rear to the Cavern Dweller. I think this is a mistake in retrospect. The Lord is going to take a penalty for disengaging and entering a different combat, so I shouldn't just give the Cavern Dweller such an ideal charge. Still, no matter what I do here, I think I've lost this flank. This is just nitpicking my play.

Awkward positioning for the Abyssals.

Centrally, I have a flank charge into the Frost Giant, who is already wounded. I should be able to break him, but feel that if I do so, I am trading both units for the giant. Since the Giant is already wounded, and I am feeling quite behind now, so I opt for more of a longshot play, charging downhill with the Oathbreakers and into the Dwarves, and hoping for some hot dice on 3's and 3's, but I do not roll well and only land a few damage against them, and only a few more on the Frost Giant as well, who isn't even Wavered.

Some desperate combats. I am outmatched here.

Over on the left, the Abyssal Guard countercharge the Lord, with a unit of Tortured Souls hitting him in the flank. The Lord is brought up to 12 damage, but merely wavered. The other unit of Tortured Souls hits the Pack Hunters again, routing the unit this time.

More messy combats on the left, with the Abyssals failing to break through.

Centrally, the Abyssal Fiend rolls hot, I think landing all 7 damage from his attacks onto the Snow Troll Prime. The Prime took some earlier damage as well that wasn't entirely regenerated back, and remains on the field, but is wavered. 

Bottom of Round 4: Northern Alliance

The Pack Hunters with their wits about them come to the aid of their nearby Lord, catching the Tortured Souls in the flank and decisively rout them. 

Things are falling apart here too for the Abyssals.

In the center, the Snow Trolls flank the Oathbreakers, easily breaking them. The Giant and Cavern Dweller crush the Lower Abyssals, with the latter hitting their flank, and absconding with their token.

... and the center for the Abyssal line is finally swatted down.

I survey the table, and while there are a few combats I might be able to win on my turn, none are particularly noteworthy. I also don't really have a way to win the scenario in the coming rounds, so I concede to save us some time.

My Abyssal Guard is still on my side of the board, and I've lost my other token, so it is a commanding 6-1 victory for the powerful Northern Alliance as we call the game. Congrats to my opponent on the well-deserved win! 

Game Conclusions

The Giant didn't really deliver for my opponent in regards to actual damage output, but it's longer charge range kept my infantry hesitant and boxed in. Everything else worked pretty well for my opponent and his list. The Cavern Dwellers were very scary, and ended the game healthy. Smart play with a good list led to a commanding victory for my opponent here. Well played!

I did not have a plan going into this game, and it showed as the rounds went on. I don't think I deployed well, due to not having a lot of experience with the playstyle and this army. I think I needed to mix in the slightly speedier elements in with the infantry for a more combined-arms approach: a few infantry regiments of mediocre ability is not going accomplish much, even together. The scenario did me no favors either. With my goofy list, I didn't have anywhere safe to drop the tokens, so opted to spread things out. But with shooting troops, the tokens ended up on combat units, though none of these were really defensive units. I then hesitated to commit those units to combats. So that was not a good plan from me for the scenario. I also think I was too eager to throw away all of my Gargoyles and Seductresses, and lost all of those very early for very little gain. I had some neat ideas in the list, but also had some very poor execution. 

Testing Conclusions

• Abyssal Guard with Sacrificial Imps. I forgot about the Sacrificial Imps entirely! This is why I don't take upgrades. Neither unit was used well nor really contributed much to the game.  
• Flamebearer Troops. The downgrade was indeed quite noticeable. The lower Nerve meant any damage taken but them in real danger, and I was lucky they stuck around as long as they did. They did a little better than average with their damage output, but it was not crazy hot, nor enough to swing the game. Splitting them into two groups of two troops made sense with how the list was built, but I just didn't have the firepower needed to focus fire things down and to make these little battle groups actually threatening.
• Oathbreakers. These are essentially special Abyssal Guard, and were not used well either, and the Rally made no difference in the violence that unfolded. The conditional Vicious is a bit of a waste of a rule, but I still think the unit can still find a home in some lists. 
• Tortured Souls. In my head these are flankers and outriders, but with only Speed 7 and no Nimble, it is hard to use them as such. I'll need to continue to play around with these more, as I am still struggling to use these well. 
• Abyssal Fiends. These were a bright spot in the list. They couldn't carry the rest of the list, but performed well themselves.
• Seductress with Enthrall. Huzzah! The secret technique worked! Unfortunately, I didn't have the units to focus fire well, nor the firepower to make the technique pay off. I then threw them into combats they probably should not have been in. These were not used well.
• Regimental MSU. The playstyle is hard. Deployment is very important for this style and I didn't do that well here. A few more tries with the list and I might have been able to put up a better fight. I still think there is some potential here, so we'll give it a few more tries.
• Battle Report Template. I wrote a note for every round and almost one for every player turn, and generally kept on track. The report was pretty quick to write-up, though with my schedule it took a little more time to clean up and post. Not a bad first outing, and we'll keep trying it out.

We played a rematch with different lists, and that report will be up soon. Thanks to my opponent for fitting these games in, and congrats on the win!