Year in Review for 2023

Yep, it's getting to be that time of the year. Let's get to it then! Going into 2023 I was satisfied with my collection and had dropped hobbying goals, but I did have four Kings of War goals for gaming:

1. Play 24 Games, and write 24 Battle Reports. 
2. Travel to an Event. 
3. Run my own event again. 
4. Run a Mega battle. 

Well, it was a year. I achieved only one of those goals, and that one just barely! I played 25 new games in 2023, and wrote a corresponding Battle Report for each one! For better or for worse though, four of those games were Demo Games. 

No one objected to me pausing occasionally to take the pictures and notes during the demos, but I think the best demo games were ones where I was running more familiar lists and not trying to use those games as a testing ground in addition to the demo. That said, I think having these reports up and talking about them could be helpful for anyone else looking to demo Kings of War, so we'll see what the future holds for those reports specifically.

The year started out strong getting in four games a month, but then aroudn March, my wife and I jumped into home-buying. We searched relentlessly for several months, found a place, and then out of the blue my company decreed a return to office mandate. The commute from new place was just over twice my pre-Covid commute for a time-commitment, so my work-life balance definitely took a hit this year, and gaming and fun activities slowed.

There are a few tournaments I knew of in neighboring states, but they fell into the roughly 6 month period we were house-hunting and lightly renovating and then moving. And all the housing efforts sapped my will to try and organize another "Beat and Greet" style event as well, as even my little event in 2022 took a fair amount of effort to organize. I wasn't making much headway attracting new lecal players, so that didn't seem like a worthwhile thing to attempt this year. There was a similar notion with the mega battle, since I wanted that to be a social thing with multiple players.

All in all, I did not do great on my 2023 Kings of War gaming goals. So, what the heck. Let's just try for them again!

1. Play 24 Games, and write 24 Battle Reports. I have reported on every 3rd Edition game that I have played. I may tweak or abbreviate a report for a demo game, but I'll aim to get 24 more reports posted in 2024.
2. Travel to an event. It still doesn't need to be a big one or even a full-on serious tournament, but traveling for some kind of group get-together sounds like fun.
3. Run or help run an event again. I have four table's worth of mats and terrain, and I'd like to put them to use in 2024! My first meet-up event went well in 2022, so I think we can build on that experience and loop in a few more attendees for something in 2024.
4. Run a Mega Battle. I still want it to be over 5,000 points per side. I have at least 6.5K each of Abyssals, Undead, KoM, Varangur and Herd, so I could even provide all of the minis, but ideally I think we get a group thing going, both for ease and swiftness of play, as well as it being more fun for folks to use their own toys. Having something like multiple Undead collections fighting some allied armies sounds cool, so we'll see what we can figure out.

I have a good feeling about Kings of War in the coming year! Hopefully I'll see you across the table some time. Cheers!

...and may you nap as often as you want in 2024!

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #046 Undead vs Abyssal Dwarfs [Push]

Intro and Lists

Our schedules haven’t been aligning recently, but I was able to squeeze in one final game in for 2023 against friend and forum-goer Cartwright, who graciously made the trip over to the Madison area to accommodate me and my darn work schedule. We corresponded on the potential match-ups, and settled on a new and unfamiliar one to close out the year. He brought his eldest son’s Abyssal Dwarfs, running the following:

We haven’t seen a “proper” Abyssal Dwarf list yet on the blog. We saw them at a tiny event in 2021, and they have come up a few times in team games, but they have never gone above 1500 points in these reports. Cartwright definitely fit in a lot! For Dwarfs we have two regiments of Blacksouls, the basic infantry option kitted for defense, and a horde of Decimators with Blunderbusses. Supporting the evil dwarfs were two units of chaffy Gargoyles and several scary hordes of monsters, which were likely going to cause me the biggest headaches. Two of these were of Lesser Obsidian Golems with Def6 and Magma Cannons. Thankfully the cannons only have 8 attacks, but these seemed versatile and hard to break. The third horde were Abyssal Grotesques, which were a Christmas addition to the family collection. They looked like a brutal combat unit. As if this wasn’t enough, he also brought a Hellfane shrine, the Infernok / Dravak unique option combo, and two other spellcasters with a wide variety of spells. While the list had a good variety of things to explore (we were both trying to find our footing with a new army), the Abyssal Dwarf list had a lot of Def6 and seemed like it would do well in a grind.

My “new” army was my Undead, an old collection seeing the table in their first big game of 3rd Edition and now sporting a spooky fog effect. I needed to start somewhere for evaluation the army, so I too ran a variety of stuff in this larger game. Up to test is basically everything:

• Wraith Troops. These have been stellar little annoyances in previous games, and surprisingly potent if they can be surged into a flank. I know they can be great, but we’ll see how I am able to utilize them.
• Mummies. The Teutonic Knights take the field! I posited that they should be ok in a grind, but the Abyssal Dwarfs look like they can easily outclass my one regiment. We’ll see how they do and what they get stuck up on.
• Skeleton Archers. Cartwright has used a horde of Brothermark Bowmen against me well, and my own Kingdoms of Men Bowmen were coming into their own the last few games. We’ll see how Skeleton Archers do! 
• Wights. The only “real” hammer unit I brought. Unfortunately I don’t have a great way to heal or preserve them, and I have a feeling this unit will make-or-break the game for me. We’ll see what carnage they can do before they are dragged down.
• Revenant Cavalry. I wanted to test out these new units. Unfortunately, against Def6 with just TC2, I don’t think they are going to relegated to delaying actions and tarpit duty. 
• Revenant King. I paid for Surge since so much of my list is Shambling. Throwing together my list, I thought they had a few more attacks… but unfortunately they look akin to my Kingdoms of Men heroes. Three attacks gives them good odds to deal 1 to something, but that isn’t great for damage output, and these aren’t the rounded characters I thought they were. The extra points get them Fearless, some Nerve, Inspiring and Lifeleech, making them a bit more tanky. Being tanky is ok, but a disordered spellcaster still can’t cast spells no matter how tough they are, so we’ll see what trouble or utility these can get up to.
• Necromancer. The recent spellcaster revamp is neat, making the Necromancers just 30 points, without spells. This gives them a lot of versatility, letting you pay for just the spell you want, and keeping the overall costs low. I probably should have been brave and taken a different spell, but figured it was best to double down on Surge for the inaugural outing.
• Liche King. The Liche King is also a beneficiary of the spellcaster revamp, but has more potent spells. Being a wimp I again doubled-down with Surge, figuring he might be able to enable some long-surge shenanigans. The revamp saw the Liche lose Fly but retain Speed 7, which is intriguing, but a bit of a nerf still. I don’t think this is the right kit, but we’ll see how he feels on the table.
• Goreblight. It seemed like a nice budget monster, and I had liked it in the demo game, even though I had forgotten all about Cloak of Death. I’ll try to remember it this time, and we’ll see how it feels in a larger game. 
• Legions of Zombies. Zombies are classic, so I wanted to try them out, and figured I should go big since I had the models to do so. At Defense 2, I feel like these won’t last long, but with 28 Nerve (29 if run near the Goreblight in the formation!), they may surprise me. I gave them Giant Rats for Lifeleech 2. They aren’t damage dealers, but through weight of attacks I am hoping this can trigger every combat. I am not expecting much, but we’ll see how the throngs of zombies do. 
• The Shambling Blight. Running the formation all together is a ridiculous 75 Nerve and 9 Unit strength in one area! Phalanx will only trigger against the Grotesques, so it might not be a big factor this game, though isn’t a bad thing for a tarpit unit to have generally. Iron resolve should be good too. I don’t think the formation is a great buy or all that competitive a pick, but since I had resolved to run Legions of Zombies already, I figured I might as well give it a try. 

Table and Terrain

As mentioned, Cartwright graciously made the drive out to the shop to accommodate my darn work schedule. My camera was having some trouble with the lighting, but I should have enough pictures to make an intelligible report. We used his app to set up the terrain, substituting in a third forest when we couldn't locate a pond. We were using typical terrain rules, with the ruins as Height 9 blocking buildings, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, fences as Height 2 Obstacles, and Hills as Height 3. 

We rolled up “Push” for the scenario, which we were a little rusty on. After deployment, we were each to distribute d3 (we got 2) loot tokens to units or just around out deployment zone, and then fight for a central token. Tokens were worth 1 point on your side of the board at the end of the game, or two if you were able to press into your opponent’s side.

Most of deployment.

Left to right, my opponent had Blacksouls, Hellfane, Blacksouls, and the reconfigured Grotesques in reserve. Each Blacksoul unit would receive a loot token. Hiding behind the building was the Hexcaster, a horde of Lesser Obsidian Golems, Iron-Caster, Infernok screening Dravak Dalkan, the horde of Decimators which now have a range of 14”, Gargoyles, more Lesser Obsidian Golems, and Gargoyles on the far flank.

The rest of deployment, with the Undead's stacked right flank.

I had won the roll-off, and did the lazy gamer approach, with the Wights as my final drop. Left-to-right for me we have the Skeleton Archers, Revenant King, Revenant Cavalry, Revenant Cavalry in the woods. The center had Mummies on the obstacle with Wraiths behind, the Liche King, more Revenant Cavalry, the a Legion of Zombies, and the necromancer. On my far flank had Wraiths, the Goreblight, Liche King, Legion of Zombies and the Wights. This far legion would receive both of my tokens, since nothing really opposed me here. My general plan was to Shamble the Zombies up each turn for all-but-guaranteed points, assume my opponent and the Blacksouls would eventually break through for the same, and just focus on trying to contest the middle token for the win.

My opponent won the roll for first turn, and took it.

Top of Round 1: Abyssal Dwarfs

I was Undead, but the Revenant Cavalry gave me some good threat projection, so my opponent moved up, but remained out of range. It looks like we let the Hellfane shoot at the Revenant Cavalry, scoring 1 damage. 

The Abyssal Dwarf force moves up!

The Hexcaster attempted his namesake, and scored a hit on the Liche. Due to the Feedback special rule, this does go on to wound the Liche as well. That's a neat little caster, especially as he has Spellward to thwart his opponent in any wizard duel. 

The Gargoyles are cautions, staying just out of charge range, as shown by the die.

The Gargoyles flitted around on my right, and were the speediest things on the table. Their goal was to intercept and delay. My quickest thing on this flank were the Wraiths, so the Gargoyles set down just out of reach and ready to react to my opening moves.

Bottom of Round 1: Undead

The Undead move up as well, with the relatively speedy trio of Revenant Cavalry shuffling about. The unit on the left should have some clear charges for delaying things in the coming turns. The unit in the center in the woods couldn’t quite get out of the woods with their movement. I want to preserve their Thunderous Charge but not be accidentally charged by dwarven infantry, so I hangback a few inches and attempt to Surge myself clear of the terrain. I only get one success for Surge over on this flank, so unfortunately they are held up by the woods.

End of movement. The sturdy obstacles looked amazing but proved unwieldy for our game, and were replaced with torn paper.

Over on the right, the Wraiths hop over the building with Fly, and aim themselves at the Gargoyles. The Necromancer skulks around the building to cast a 6 for 6 Surge spell to get them into the Face of the Gargoyles. We agree I’ll need 2 more inches to connect, and the Revenant King obliges me 3 successes on his attempt. In combat, the Wraiths will score 7 hits which translate into 7 wounds, and the Gargoyles are thumped!

Lining things up in the movement phase.

With the Dwarfs moving up, the Archers loose into the right Blacksouls, hoping to soften them up for my cavalry, or for a lucky waver to really delay the Grotesques. A man can dream, right? Three damage is done, but the dwarfs hold firm.

Top of Round 2: Abyssal Dwarfs

The Abyssal Dwarfs are unable to charge anything yet, but are able to bring some more dedicated shooting to bear this turn. The Hellfane scores another 2 damage into the Revenant Cavalry, bringing them to 3. The central eat take a Magma Cannon shot for 2, and two Fireballs for 1 apiece, but will hold when all is said and done.

Shots and magic fly out from the Abyssal Dwarf battle line.

With the Gargoyles gone, the Lesser Obsidian Golems find themselves as the flank of the Abyssal Dwarf line. They move and pivot to face the Undead out on the flank, and their Magma Cannons shoot at my victorious Wraiths, though I don't think any damage is scored.

The Abyssal Dwarf center move up, menacingly.

The Hexcaster relentless pursues the Liche, Hexing him again and damaging him again as well. I am not super-eager to Surge anything, and obviously less-inclined to do so while hexed, but this is still an annoyance.

The Lesser Golems turn to face the Undead.

Bottom of Round 2: Undead

The Undead have some interesting charges open for them this turn, and I decide the only way to really learn is to be bold! I take a few, but to kick things off the Archers fire into the Hellfane, scoring a surprising 2 damage.

Charges on the left.

Still over on the left, a regiment of Revenant Knights make a clear charge into the front of the Blacksouls hugging the table edge, landing 7 damage against the evil Dwarfs, but they hold, which should allow the Hellfane to flank the knights next turn. 

The other Revenant Knights are hindered going into the flank of the other Blacksouls, and this is their only possible charge given the positioning of the units. They take it, but they are joined by the Wraiths who have a clear charge. The dwarfs are devastated and then routed. Reforms are a little awkward. The Wraiths pivot to try and roadblock, but the Knights cannot position in a way to get both the Hellfane and the nearby Golems in the front, and so opt to give the Hellfane the flank and force a decision.

I opt not to pick up the token here. I was expecting to lose this flank, and wanted to make my opponent work to pick them back up.

A risky hindered charge in the center of the field.

The victorious Wraiths charge the Golems, looking for the disorder and the pin so that I can hopefully hit them with more next turn. The Wights and Goreblight move up for this purpose, with the Revenant King and Necromancer each surging a unit up closer still. 

Reforms at the bottom of 2.

The third regiment of Revenant Knights have a charge into the Gargoyles, and I opt to take it. If I can rout them, I feel like I can back up to get things in my front, and bring the Mummies in to help contest the middle. The Knights only deal 3 damage, and the Gargoyles hold, meaning all three of my Revenant Knights are possibly getting flanked next turn. Yikes.

Top of Round 3: Abyssal Dwarfs

The Abyssal Dwarfs shrug off the strikes from the Undead, and prepare for their counter attacks.

Over on the right, the Golems will counter-charge the Wraiths, who land 16 hits into 10 damage, and smash the ghosts away. The Decimators move up, and shoot into the Goreblight. Given the surrounding melees, the Goreblights gets cover, but the Decimators roll hot, landing 8 damage, a bit less than twice the expected result. Surge got the monster out of Inspiring range, and a lucky 10 for the check pops the undead amalgamation. 

Changes and such for the top of Round 3.

Centrally, the Iron-Caster lobs a fireball into the Mummies dealing 3, and Hexcaster again hits the Liche for 1 getting both the Hex and the damage. The Infernok hits the flank of the Revenant Knights, with the Gargoyles clawing at their front. The Gargoyles roll well, dealing 3, and the Infernok contributes 11. The Knights are maybe a quarter of an inch out of Inspiring range, and are smashed back into the dirt on the first Nerve check.

More charges for Round 3...

The second unit of Revenant Knights takes frontal charge from the Golems. The knights hold, but are disordered, so they are not long for this world.

Some reforms for Round 3.

The Hellfane joins the Blacksouls against my left-most Revenant Cavalry, hitting them in the flank. Rampage generates 5 extra attacks… so the Hellfane translates 28 attacks into 17 damage. The Dwarfs do nothing, but an aura for Brutal is in play, and the Knights are obliterated as well.

The Grotesques make it cleanly into the other unit of Wraiths, dealing 10 new damage to them and trounce the second unit of ghosts. 

Bottom of Round 3: Undead

My opponent had a phenomenal turn, and I was feeling the pressure, but given the scenario knew I still had a chance.

Beginning of the turn.

The Archers shoot into the remaining unit of Blacksouls, dealing 2 and taking them to 9, but they hold, and are unimpressed. 

The Teutonic Mummies make a disordered charge into the Infernox. They Lifeleech back 2, at which point I remember to backtrack and roll for Regeneration, removing the last point and given them a clean slate. Even disordered, they land 5 hits into 4 damage, and the grind here in the center is on! 

In the middle of the Bottom of Round 3.

The Zombie Legion with the tokens moves over the center line to be scoring, and then pivots to maybe contribute to a fight later.

The Zombie Legion without the tokens makes a hindered charge into the Gargoyles, looking to remove them, and are indeed able to land a few damage and see them off. They will victoreously back up to get things into their front arc.

You know what would have been nice here? A Goreblight.

The Wights have no charge. We'd need another hot Surge roll  reach the Lesser Golems, and I opt not to test fate again. I think everything should be able to survive a hit next turn, and I am hoping I can make something happen here in Round 4.

Top of Round 4: Abyssal Dwarfs

The last remaining regiment of Revenant Cavalry did lifeleech 1 damage back, but the Golems counter-charge again, dealing another 11 damage to the unit and bringing them to 20. I definitely underestimated the Golems, but they are also rolling way above average. They thump the knights, and then reform to look over towards the central token, which is actually unclaimed currently.

A big triple charge!

The Skeleton Archers get charged by the Grotesques (7 damage), the Hellfane (5) and Dwarfs (3), for a total of 15, but they hold strong thanks to Fearless.

A surprising hold from the Archers!

My opponent tries to shoot off the Zombie Legion in the woods. Cannons do 3, Fireball does 3, and the Decimators deal 6, but the Legion holds!

Ranged Phase, top of 4.

The Hexcaster hits the Mummies with Weakness, giving my Liche a respite. The Mummies are weakened, and the spell does two damage. The Infernox then thumps the Mummies for an additional 6, damage, but they hold. 

Bottom of Round 4: Undead

It's been rough, but my plan is still sort of working? I am fighting for the middle, and my Zombies with the tokens are scoring. While I am losing my left flank, that is expected, and there is also a loose token there, which my opponent needs to go back and grab to even things up.

The Archers swing back at the Dwarfs, dealing another 2 and brining them to 11, and they are able to get the rout. They do not pick up the token, meaning my opponent now needs to pick two up separate tokens around here.

I try weighing my options, and don't have many multi-charges available, and don't think I can really break anything, so I end up in some grindy one-on-one fights.

The Mummies swipe at the Infernox, but weakened, they aren’t doing stellar and this is an uphill battle.

Desperate one-on-one charges from the Undead.

The wounded Zombie Legion makes a hindered charge into the Decimator horde, does the expected 3 damage, and gets the disorder on the shooters while Lifeleeching back 2. 

The Wights finally make it into the Golems, but are unsupported. They only deal 5, around the expected result, and unsurprisingly, that is not enough damage to really threaten them. 

I believe the Zombies with the tokens are Surged up to the other edge of the hill... which would be illegal as you can't to that to a unit holding a token. My bad. We revisited all those rules during deployment and I forgot.

Top of Round 5: Abyssal Dwarfs

My opponent makes some tricky moves… the Infernox disengages from the Mummies, and will be Surged into the flank of the zombies, taking the penalty. The Decimators will counter-charge the Zombies, bringing them to 23, but the Zombies hold.

The Mummies are hit with Magma Cannons and Fireballs and they are burned away. Yikes. My note says 11 damage, but that's gotta be the new total otherwise all three units were rolling hot. At the end of the phase, the Infernox is able to claim the central token.

The Teutonic Mummies are disrespected and shot up.

The other Lesser Obsidian Golems countercharge the Wights, continue to roll way above average, and hit them with a stunning 10 damage. Two 8’s on the Nerve check means I lose the Wights in one-go…

Bottom of Round 5: Undead

…which kind of seals my fate! I have my two tokens, but losing both the Mummies and Wights here means the last of my so-called hammer units are gone and I am extremely unlikely to be able to ever threaten a third token. The game is out of my reach, so it's time to concede.

A victory to the Abyssal Dwarfs!

Game Conclusions

It was great to fit in another game before the year ended, and great to branch out into some less typical armies for the report.

Cartwright's eldest ran the Abyssal Dwarfs as dwarfs but there is more going on with them. The Decimator horde was a fun unit to see in practice, and the extra two inches on their ranged attack is a solid buff. The army looks to have some fun options to explore!

I had some blazing hot surge rolls to start, and that’s about when my luck ran out and Cartwright’s took over! The Obsidian Golems rolled very hot in all their fights, consistently delivering double-digits of damage where 6 would be the expected result. The Decimators got some very spiky dice against the Goreblight to remove it without incident, and generally punched above their weight. Giving them Blessing of the Gods might be a good call if Cartwright looks to make this a more regular army. 

Trying to learn the army I made some risky plays early on, and by my Round 3 I had lost over a quarter of my army. That deficit was too hard to come back from, and with Cartwright's luck hitting its stride in the midgame, the game quickly spiraled out of my reach.

The Undead were still very fun to pilot though, and I got a lot to ponder. Having a layered battle line didn't work well with Shambling, so I think wider is probably better for next time. Surge was difficult to plan around but I think I have a better idea of how to utilize that now as well. The Undead have a lot of lower-quality units, so I think trying to focus on getting those multi-charges would be a good focus for my next list. 

Testing Conclusions

• Wraith Troops. I started out great with these, but my opponent removed them pretty quickly before I could get additional uses out of them. They are versatile and definitely worth taking, but the low Nerve and high Defense makes them a little quirky, and they need a little more finesse than I had on the day.
• Mummies. I did not use these well. I deployed on terrain, and didn’t move them off until they needed to charge, leading to that being a hindered chareg. That itself wasn’t smart, but they got into a pretty tough 1-on-1 fight. Still, they lasted a few rounds, so kudos to them. If I can support them better, they should be a fun unit to bring to the table again.
• Skeleton Archers. I’m not sure brining just the Archers is worth it. I think like my Kingdoms of Men, you will want some additional investment in shooting (for the Undead, either Balefires, or some damaging magics) to help out. Still, they rolled well, dealing an extra damage here and there vs the expected result. Boiling Oil unfortunately didn’t come into play here but it still seems like a good item for bow hordes to pick up. 
• Wights. They were may last drop, and I deployed them back, hoping to fly in and start smashing. However, being Shambling, and behind other Shambling units, they got a bit delayed. While flanking something is always better, these just don’t seem maneuverable enough to do that. I think I’d be better running these as a main-line unit and looking for a surged flank charge than running these out on the wings and trying to collapse on my opponent’s line 7 inches at a time. They are a good unit but I used them a bit poorly due to inexperience.
• Revenant Cavalry. I used them more like some of my old knightly regiments from the Kingdoms of Men, but they function a little differently, being a bit more tanky at the cost of their damage output. I overestimated their combat abilities, and used them a bit recklessly. I think regiments need either more supporting hammer units, or Bane Chant support to be effective, otherwise it is too easy to bog them down and strip off the Thunderous Charge. 
• Revenant King. They were just ok. I liked that they can potentially do a lot (surging, Inspiring and fighting) but being a bit of a jack-of-all-trades makes them very points inefficient, and unattractive for competitive lists. I think ASBs with Lute and Tome would be more competitive picks, especially if you want to run some skeletons.
• Liche King. While potentially a very strong caster, Surge felt wasted on him. I don’t think long-Surges are all that desirable. I think you want to give him a scary spell and set him loose on the battlefield. Innate Speed 7 + scary spell + Boots of Levitation seems like a better role for him to play in a future list.
• Necromancer. They were the early MVP with that hot 6/6 Surge, and it felt decent to have them skulking around for little surges throughout the game. Paying for just the spells you want opens op some neat possibilities for them. 
• Surge-focus. It was done on purpose, but yeah, I over-invested in Surge. This is one of those things experience will help dictate. I had a lot of things that could be surged, but again I don't think long surges are desirable, so just having a few casters is probably ok. On long Surges, even Wights are going to top out around 10 damage maximum, and that isn’t enough oomph to give good chances for a rout against a lot of things. Even here with the Revenant Cavalry, it felt all too easy to get out of inspiring range and lose a unit. 
• Goreblight. It was incredibly unlucky here. Worth trying out again in the future for sure though! 
• Legions of Zombies. They did ok? Just by virtue of being Legions they were able to take a ton of punishment and then stick around. My opponent pointed out that any TC, Piercing or CS is points wasted on them, making them a pretty efficient tarpit since I wasn’t paying for Defense that would be immediately stripped away. Rats seemed like a decent upgrade for them. 
• The Shambling Blight. The formation put the Legions in the best possible light with all the buffs and bells and whistles and stuff, but Phalanx didn’t have much to interact with from the Abyssal Dwarfs and I forgot all about Iron Resolve. I would run it again, but its effectiveness seems limited. Ideally, you want both Legions and the Goreblight together, to get use out of Rallying, but that’s a lot of points and US all in one spot. A lot of Kings of War comes down to good positioning, so it does not seem like a competitive choice.

A big double thank you to Cartwright for both making the drive over and for fitting this in! This was a wonderful battle to end 2023 with and am looking forward to more games in 2024!

Hobby Update: Undead Revenant Wyrm

Over 5 years ago, my girlfriend (now wife) got me a NIB Mortis Engine for my birthday. I had painted up a handful of skeletons before, and had a small collection of generic undead, so I was not expecting this at all! I started hobbying it up soon thereafter, getting the gist of my conversion put together pretty quickly, but was never quite motivated enough to finish it up. All the recent work on my Undead inspired me to return to this centerpiece model though. This is definitely a counts-as model and I am not sure quite what I want to run it as. We'll get to that later...

Panoramic view, but a little poorly thought out and without the lightbox.

My old headcannon for my Undead were that they branched off from the same ancient empire as my Kingdoms of Men. This unnamed ancient and once-powerful empire of humans was shattered, and the lands of the plucky living humans shrank and shrank until they were but one of many players in Mantica. In conjunction with the shattering of the old empire, the dead arose from the ruins, and then my group turned nomadic, shambling around the lands and adding to their ranks in battle after battle. At the head of this rotting army was a vampire queen using magics and the spirits of her house guard to ride her own mausoleum into battle... 

Going along with that early fluff, my oldest undead go the same Purple and White color treatment as my Kingdoms of Men, which you can see in some of the 2nd Edition battle reports. I've since changed my mind on this, as it is more fun to paint more things more colors. So I have been touching things up and adding more color to the army, as well as adding the fog effect to my older units. 

The flying mausoleum was the core of my conversion here, so we're keeping that concept. The majority of the model (ghostly cavalry and steps) is from the Mortis Engine kit. The cavalry part has been painted and glued to the titanic base for years and years now, getting just an new off-white drybrush to add more of a gradient to the spirits. The building is from the old Garden of Morr WHFB terrain kit, with the railings of the stairs able to fit just in between the indented corner columns of the building. These proved to weak joins. I used super glue and green stuff to connect them, and then a few layers of PVA glue to strengthen things. I didn't have any at the time, but plastic cement probably would have been a better call for a stronger bond.

I used chunks of insulation foam to bulk out the additional ground that was being pulled along beneath the building, and random bone bits to continue the graveyard feel the bottom of the steps had. I don't think many people will look close, but I like the way it all turned out.

The detail on the underside was surprising!

Online, I have seen others have run this model as a very special regiment of cavalry, or as a Vampire on Undead Dragon. In line with the original fluff, I was leaning towards the latter, with these conversions, but there are more neat undead dragons out there these days than there wee a few years ago, so I am actually leaning towards running this as one of the Revenant titan options. 

As a DM for the last decade or so, I really like anti-paladins and death knights and so on. I have a small but growing collection of these evil-doers. Many of these have come from Reaper, with bendy plastic and large stands, but I found a suitable mini for this project in my bits box from an etsy order placed a few years back. He was cleaned and primed at the time, so he was painted up now and attached using PVA glue, just in case I want to change my mind down the road. (I figured the PVA bond would be weak enough to break without breaking the resin mini... we'll see if I ever need to test that.) For now, the new fluff is that pre-death, he was Master of The House or somesuch, duty-bound to guard the queen or her resting place. As it turned out, death was no release from his oath, so as a Revenant, he now guards the mausoleum and it's precious dirt as the nomadic force traverses the world of Pannithor. 

Currently, the Burrowing Wyrm is the cheaper of the two options, so it immediately appeals to me. It's slower, has two extra attacks and Strider. It only hits on a 4+, so Strider should definitely help the combats out. It seems like the better of the two options, but lacks Inspiring, which is a shame. I am not super-familiar with the Undead, but they seem hungry for hero slots (as well as brains), and it would have been nice to get a monster + inspiring combo here.

The flying option is a Revenant King, and gains Inspiring and Flying and Nimble and 3 extra inches of movement at the cost of those two attacks and Strider. Statistically, it should hit just barely harder than my flying General from the Kingdoms of Men. Additionally, it gets Lifeleech1, 2 extra Nerve, Fearless, 1 extra Unit Strength from being a titan. I have frequently discussed these "Heavy Fliers" in the blog; usually they are hard to use well. This one won't hit as hard as a typical heavy flyer, but is around 50 points cheaper than usual while not automatically paying for the breath attack. It could be worth exploring? It at least Inspires so it should be a bit easier to fit into lists...

This just missed an unexpected debut game for my Undead, so I am not sure when or how this will hit the table, but I am happy knowing I was able to finally get this done!

Hobby Update: Undead Teutonic Mummies

I make no secret of how much I love Age of Empires 2. One of the more iconic units from the game is the Teutonic Knight, a very slow infantry unit with a lot of armor and a lot of attack. Mobility and positioning is a huge part of that game too, so the Teutonic Knight doesn't see a lot of competitive play, but it's a fan favorite, and while working on some Hospitaller-inspired Revenant Cavalry with some very suitable great helms... I decided to keep hobbying on and try to recreate this beloved unit for fun.

The finished unit. I like my champion kitbash. 

The minis are from Fireforge. I picked up a box of Teutonic Infantry long ago, though the kit didn't have nearly enough helms or capes to make even this one unit. I got the helms from my Teutonic Knight (cavalry) boxes. Additionally, I was running a little shy on limbs, so I ended up picking up a single sprue of their Foot Knights, via SprueDude. The Infantry box was a bit useless, but all this together would let me kitbash a caped unit of soldiers in great helms and wielding large swords, which is what I was going for.

AOE2 DE's Teutonic Knight.

Everything was primed in grey, and then for this unit I really tried layering colors as some hobbying practice. I decided to make this unit red, a nod to the player color in the Barbarosa campaign that shipped with the original game. To get that, the cloaks got a brown base coat and then a red as a king of highlight. Tunics were khaki, then mostly off-white, then a bit of white on the highest parts. The helms were painted black (probably should have just primed them black to start; it was messy to paint them), then given a light drybrush for dark metallics, and then a dark yellow visor, all emulating the game's colors. 

Knowing I had basing and the fog effect to do, I painted the bodies, cloaks, and helms separately. I did plan out the positioning of the cloaks, so that everything could be billowing roughly behind them. The bodies got glued down, and I finished all of the basing, including the new fog effect, before going back and gluing on the cloaks and then heads. The cloaks are awkward, and this was the right call, despite the extra work. Having the cloaks all above the fog is a neat look as well.

Another picture of the finished dudes.

I must admit that they don't look very undead, but the basing scheme should tie them in with the rest of the undead collection. They fact that they are all covered up could suggest that they are well-preserved or something? That's the idea anyway.

Arguably, given that the kits used to make the recent Revenant Cavalry were used to make this unit too, it could make sense to run these as Revenant infantry. But I don't plan on doing that.  These look pretty unique compared to the rest of the collection, so I will be running these as Mummies for the foreseeable future! 

Mummies look like a fun unit for the Undead. They are shambling undead, so are only hitting on a 4+, but do have CS2. With only 12 attacks (normal for a regiment) they don't seem like hammers, but they should be able to land a few damage in most combats and thus utilize their Lifeleech 1 reliably. They look to be better on the defense though, with Defense 5, Regeneration 5+, and for a regiment they have a splendidly high -/18 for their Nerve. They'll still need support from other units to win combats in a timely fashion, but this unit seems pretty good for fighting in grinding combats. They should take a lot of effort for an opponent to remove, and as such, could pair nicely with all the surge tricks available to the army.

My Undead collection is somewhere north of 5000 points now, so I should be able to run a nice variety of decent lists. I'm juggling a fair number of armies already, so I am not sure just when the Undead will hit the table in a regular game, but it should be a good time when they do!

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #045 Kingdoms of Men vs Ratkin [Dominate]

Intro and Lists

I was fortunate enough to be able to trek over to the Milwaukee area and squeeze in another game before the year wraps up. Opposing me was my opponent from Battle 044, who I discovered after the report is on the forum as SquirminVermin. I recently recommended their own blog, the Nerd's Tale, and should also note that they are the driving force behind the Kings of War Wisconsin Group, which I don’t think I’ve plugged previously. If you are in the state or even just nearby, feel free to join and check us out, and definitely check out my opponent’s online stuff as well! For this game they brought their wonderful Ratkin:

I had never faced the Ratkin before, nor really read through their roster even. This was going to be exciting! I couldn't quite grok all the detail all at once, but he had three big infantry hordes, two giant rats, some Hackpaw Cavalry, some chariots (doomwheels) which sounded scary, and an assortment of support characters for healing. Since I didn't know details at the time, I couldn't really plan around things, so I'll try to highlight in the report as I learned more about the units in-game.

For me, while I enjoyed the previous battle immensely, I was not happy with my own play. While dice were dice and there were still some bright spots and pleasant surprises for me, I obviously struggled more than a little with properly using the new horde-sizes, and forgot to deploy the Captain entirely, which was a brand new gaming error for me. In between gaming meet-ups I tend to bounce around between my armies, but for our rematch I decided to just make a quick tweak to my original list, and give it all another go. I ran the following:

For this game, I wanted to focus more on my deployment without tricks and possible crutches, and to find a better item for the Knight Horde. As discussed in the conclusions last game as well as on my forum thread, J Boots on the horde is not a particularly good buy. So the big tweak was dropping the Scrying Gem and J Boots for Brew of Strength on the Knight Horde. So, up to test for me are:

• Knight Horde with Brew of Strength. I think you want them as killy as possible. Brew of Sharpness was suggested, but hitting didn't seem like the bottleneck for their damage dealing to me. With just TC on my knights, I figured they might be bogged down too easily, and that was more of the bottleneck. So I decided to give them Brew of Strength this time. This should make even frontal charges from the knights super-extra scary and help them grind a bit, should they be disordered.
• Bowmen Horde with Fire Oil. These moved around a lot and were not used well last game. In retrospect, I think these should generally be out on a wing holding things down. I kept forgetting about the Blade of Slashing last game, so I dropped it and picked up Fire-Oil for the Bowmen, thinking that could be a good item for them. 
• Foot Guard horde with Chalice of Wrath. The Guard did well last game, though they only got into one combat, and never took any damage. We’ll see how things go this time for them.
• ASB with LL1 and Lute. He was supporting the Foot Guard Horde last time, which didn’t see a ton of action. We’ll see if LL comes into play this time, and what he gets up to.
• Captain. Well, if he makes it to the table this time I’ll call it a personal victory! Hopefully we can see how Rallying feels. Leaning into the redeploy did me more harm than good last game, so the goal with it here is to not plan around it, and just use it tidy up my lines if needed. That’s a better place for a newbie to start exploring with him I think.
• Ballistae. Firing lines can be an issue for war machines, but the starting 4+ to hit coupled with the older points decrease makes these very attractive, and I really liked running them last game. The Captain’s redeploy could be really great for them as well, sneakily fixing those pesky firing lanes... There is some potential here, so we'll keep them around.
• Pikes. I was pretty careless with these last game, especially when one considers just how much cavalry the enemy had. They are not chaff. My goal is to focus a bit more on deployment and aim for that “combined arms” approach this time with them.
• Rampage Giants. My default for Giants has been to give them Slayer, since that was their stock option when 3rd Edition launched. Giving them Rampage last game was a happy surprise for me as it game them way more targets against the predominately human army, but I don't think it's a bad option generally either, so I want to play around with this a bit more, and do so with a bit more intentionality. They still need support though, so we'll see how they do.

Table and Terrain

We were out at Gamers Realm again, and my opponent was setting up as I arrived. We had some height 3 hills, height 6 forests, height 2 obstacles, a height 9 impassable building, and we ran the bone terrain as height 3 impassable terrain.

We agreed on Dominate so would be focusing on the middle of the field. My opponent won the roll off, and got to deploying. 

An extra speedy flank from the Ratkin!

Left-to-right, he had his Hackpaw Regiment, Hackpaw Troop, Scud Lite, the Scurrier with the wings, the Tunnel Runners, and Marcus Jerome Venomfang, the ASB. All were fast units and all trying to use the building to hide from my two war machines. 

A very numerous Ratkin center!

The center was nuts, but given the scenario, that makes sense. In the front we have the two hordes of Shock Troops (Prince Lafayette's Royal Guard in blue, and Cheesar's Elite Ratorean Guard in purple). Betwixt them is the Tangle. Behind the tangle is Mama Tiamat the Brood Mother and Hairless Potter, the healing Warlock. Behind all that was a reserve of simple warriors and a small group of adorable yellow Vermintide. The Brood Mother has Radiance of Life for a free heal, and Ratkin infantry gain Rallying at the horde size, so mutual buffs seem to the be reason for running a big stacked blob like this. Hiding out in the woods nearby were both Mutant Rat-Fiends Friends. It is an splendid army with a lot of character.

The scenario being dominate, he dropped a horde of Shook Troops near the center, so I opened with my Foot Guard opposing them, and then built my own line around them. I wanted to deploy things back a bit in case he was aggressive with his multiple hordes, figuring the extra space should let me react and fight my way into the middle of the board if needed at the end of the game.

My left, with Giants opposing the speedy Ratkin units.

Left-to-right my line was double Rampage Giants, General, Bowmen, then Pikes, Militia, and both Ballistae. The line continued with my Foot Guard Horde, my ASB with Lute, Pikes, Militia and the Captain. I had a slight drop advantage, and closed out with the Knight Horde and General out on my right for deployment.

My right, entirely unopposed, though the forest should protect the Ratkin a bit.

Apparently the new Clash rolled Redeployment into a new special rule, which we could not find at the time. We did the Captain redeploy before scout moves, but at home and digging through the app, it looks like the new Redeploy is after all deployment and after all Scout moves, so I played this wrong. It would not have changed anything for me. I wanted to get Pikes near the Foot Guard over to the left instead, and everything beyond that was a bonus. The other Pikes moved up to better intercept for the Bowmen, and the Militia on the left was moved back by the Foot Guard to throw themselves in front of any Ratkin hordes, or just cower behind that small impassable skull terrain and wait for the late game.

 

Redeployment. Mostly adjusting the Pikes.

My overall deployment plan was a horde in each third of the board; Ballistae in the most open section; and regiments and Giants where ever they seemed appropriate. Overall, my deployment went much better for me this game. I had some nice central firing lines for the war machines; Foot Guard ready to contest the middle; Bowmen out on a flank and my scary stuff out on each of the wings.

A daring scout move from Scud Lite!

Since we goofed the Redeploy timing, my opponent did his Scout move after my redeploy, moving his little flier known as Scud Lite up into the center. Scud Lite apparently usually hunts wizards (and unicorns), and didn't have a ton of great targets on my side of the field. He could have gone further, but opted to give me a dilemma, since the Hackpaws were in range to avenge him.

I won the roll off for first turn, and with war machines, decided to take the initiative. Hopefully I can wear down the rats a bit before the lines clash in the center...

Top of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men

I decide to take the bait. Scud is only 10/12 and uninspired currently. I have war machines and wanted to lean on them in these early turns, and I don't want this little guy in my back field. The Pikes near the hill deployed on the line, but are still out of range. So a General charges out, and we get to a rare first-turn melee combat! Unfortunately, the General doesn't roll well to hit, and this only results in 3 damage, arguably, about as-expected. I needed a bit more luck to scare the Scurrier away, but Scud Lite is just Wavered, and the General is in danger.

A charge in the top of Round 1!

Fortunately, my shooting phase was better. The Ballistae shoot into the Tangle and land 3 damage. The Bowmen take a movement penalty for moving up and securing the hill, but manage to land 3 damage against the Hackpaw troop too, and the Inspired Nerve check is enough to see them off.

The knights push up aggressively. 

The Militia move up, looking to use the height 3 blocking skull terrain to hide them. The General on my right can do a nice 20" fly and nimble pivot to threaten the Friends near the woods, and the Knight Horde advances to do the same while staying out of their charge range.

Bottom of Round 1: Ratkin

The Hackpaw regiment rushes too save Scud Lite. I thought they hit harder, but apparently just have Thunderous Charge 1. Still, they crash into the flank of my General, get Bane-Chanted, do 10 damage, and then see him off with two sets of 6's on the inspired Nerve checks. Fearful of the Giants, the Hackpaws turn to face the nearest one.

Scud Lite is saved by the Hackpaws. The Tunnel Runners are about an inch out of the Giant's range.

The heavy center of the Ratkin line bulges out, trying to compensate for the aggressive right-flank of the Kingdoms of Men. The Tangle gets a Radiance of Life, forgets about Regeneration, but then gets a Heal, and its damage is wiped clean.

The Ratkin shift around to deny some charges.

The Mutant Rat-Friends back up and out of the forest, denying the knights a charge. The forest should block line of sight of the General to the main Ratkin line, delaying things over on my right, as I am not eager to charge him in solo against both the Rat-Friends.

Top of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men

I feel like the Knights should be getting into combat... but with no available charge on their turn, I just look to apply more pressure. The General flies up, safely threatening the flanks of more Ratkin units, and the Knights inch up to threaten the Friends again while also staying safe. Having the longer charge range is great!

More positioning out on my right.

Over on the left, the Tunnel Runners are too far away to charge. I wanted to get the Pikes up to block them up a bit, but they are too near the table edge. Moving too far up just gives the Tunnel Runners an easy flank charge, so they move 5 and pivot, keeping the Runners in the front. 

Charges at the top of Round 2.

I send the rampage Giants in against the ASB and the Hackpaw Regiment. I roll the ASB fight first, dealing 9 damage, routing him, and then pivoting to face the contraptions. The second Giant also does around 9 damage to the Hackpaws, and without a source of Inspiring, a good Nerve check sees them off too, with this Giant turning to face the contraptions as well.

The Giants claim their first victims.

I could have probably made better victorious positioning moves here, but overall I think I've got a good numbers here and am liking my chances against his fast stuff, even with Scud being free now.

My ranged phase goes very well again. Up against all this Healing, I decide to try and ignore the hordes and shoot at the supporting characters. Upon learning that the Tangle had Regeneration, the Bowmen actually make use of their Oil item, gaining Piercing 1 and landing some good damage against it. Their volley is joined by some Ballista shots as well. The Tangle is shot off the field!

Bottom of Round 2: Ratkin

Out on the right, the Mutant Rat-Friends go back-to-back, wary of the flying General. Cheesar's Elite Ratorean Guard enters the woods, and pops their Plague Pots, gaining Ensnare and Stealthy and daring a charge from the horde of Knights.

The Rats cower! To be fair, being fearful of big flying things is probably pretty on-brand for a rat.

Mama Tiamat, the Broodmother, moves out of range of the flying General along with the other horde of Shock Troops and the Vermintide. The red horde of Warriors still waits in reserve, waiting to see how the Giants move in my turn.

The Tunnel Runners trample the Pikes!

The Tunnel Runners don't like their chances against the Giants. Position-wise, they may only be able to charge one: I am not sure if they would have been able to fit in between the Giants to charge the Giant further back in its front arc. Still, the Runners are able to hit the Pikes with impunity. Ensnare helps, but the Runners land 8 damage on the Pikes, and then roll an 8 for the Nerve check. Uninspired, the Pikes are routed. My opponent decides to overrun, looking towards a speedy getaway around the hill, but only rolls up a 2.

Scud Lite is just out of range of my nearest Ballista, so shaking off his near death experience, he moves up into their flank, eyeing a charge next turn.

Top of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men

I do not want the Tunnel Runners in my backline. They have no charge next turn though, which is a blessing for me. One Giant just turns to face them. The Giant has a big front arc, and with the table edge nearby, I should be able to catch them next turn. My remaining Pikes pivot and move, looking behind the Bowmen and hoping to pin the Runners down if they are somehow able to make a break for it, with an unexpected Nimble or some such that I am missing.

Boxing in the Tunnel Runners.

Out on the right, I decide not to charge the Shock Troops and their Plague Pots. Hindered and Ensnare doesn't sound like a fun time for my Knights. The General nimbly flaps 10" the flank arcs of both Mutant Rat Friends. 

Shooting goes well again. The Bowmen and Ballistae land 7 into the horde of blue Shock Troops known as Prince Lafayette's Royal Guard, and with the Aegis, they Iron Resolve down to 6.

Bottom of Round 3: Ratkin

Wary of a Giant getting around the building and behind Ratkin lines, the red horde of Warriors are finally sent out to plug that gap. I am ok with that, as it should be a decent test for Rampage. The  combination of the building and table edge also precludes the rats from contributing much else to this fight: there just isn't a lot of space for the red Warriors to scoot and make room.

The Rats look to protect their backfield and their units.

The blue Royal Guard get a Radiance of Life and a Heal, taking them down to 2 damage if memory serves.  My opponent expected the red Warriors to immediately die, so along with Tiamat the Brood Mother, they position themselves to hopefully take down the Giant in the following turn. The adorable Vermintide bravely position themselves to protect the flank of the Shock Troops from my General. The equally adorable Friends both turn to face the General again.

The Tunnel Runners try to move, but moving at the double would take them off the table. A normal move and pivot can't escape the sight or arc of the Giant, so they turn to face.

Scud Lite the Scurrier attacks the first Ballista, and with 12 attacks, does 10 damage! He then discovers the operator is insanely courageous...

Top of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men

Having dodged the miasma of the Plague Pots, now I decide to send in the Knights against the Shock Troopers. I thought there were more similar to my Foot Guard, but I learn that they have Phalanx from their Halberds upgrade. This is not a good fight for the Knights! The Knights are hindered and up against Phalanx, and land a meager 10 hits but get 8 damage on the board, with the Captain contributing another 1 damage to the cause.

The Knights commit to a terrible combat.

My flying General was hoping to pincer the red Warriors with the Giant this turn, but the Warriors moved out of range. I decide to send the General in against the Vermintide, looking for an easy pick-up, but he flubs, only deal 2s damage, and the Vermintide holds strong.

The rampaging Giant wades into the Ratkin Warriors alone. The extra attacks rolled up are good, and I think 8 damage is done, but the unit easily holds. 

Despite no Rampage trigger, the other Giant also rolls ok for the extra attacks, deals 7 to the contraptions, and manages to Waver the Tunnel Runners.

For shooting, the Bowmen continue to hold the hill, firing into the Brood Mother. The insane Ballista operator does nothing, content to just be in the way, but the other fires over the heads of humans and ratkin into Mama as well. I think 7 damage hits, and she is wavered too.

The Foot Guard advance 10", abandoning my trap for Scud Lite.

I had been laying a trap for Scud Lite. Last turn, the Foot Guard had pivoted to get the Ballistae into their front arc. The plan was for the Ballistae to move back, and let the Foot Guard charge in and finishing him off. With the first Ballista holding, I opt to keep the Ballista shooting as long as they can. The Foot Guard jump up 10" with a Militia turning back to try and deal with Scud Lite, though I don't think they have the charge range to get beyond the Ballista.

Bottom of Round 4: Ratkin

The Mutant Rat-Friends finally split up. One swivels to commit to fighting the Knights next turn, and the other pulls up behind my remaining General. If he is grounded, he is likely done for.

Encircled, the Ratkin fight back.

The red Warriors counter-charge the Giant, dealing a surprising 8 damage to the towering monster, though thankfully the Giant is unfazed as they are found to be insanely courageous. Hey, go get 'em big guy. The Vermintide countercharge the General, but 4 hits translates into 0 damage, even with Vicious. The rats of the Royal Guard continue to wait patiently for their turn to fight the Giant, as my opponent is expecting him to break through next turn.

The other Shock Troop, Cheesar's Ratorean Guard, get a solid heal from Hairless Potter the Warlock, and pop the Blood of the Old King. A reroll in each step deals 2 to themselves, and they deal 10 to the Knights. They were Rallied and Inspired, so were going to be hard to move, but they are found to be insanely courageous as well now.

Scud lands a few more damage, and routs the ballista operator this time.

Top of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men

It's time to remember to play the scenario! The Foot Guard move and pivot, getting up near the center and are definitely scoring. The Pikes are stumbling over the obstacle, but should be able to get into place next turn with another similar move. The Archers need to move and pivot, and one more move and pivot should hopefully get them in as well. A Militia Mob wheels out from behind the skull terrain, currently scoring, and things are looking pretty good for the Kingdoms of Men.

The Kingdoms of Men move out and into the center.

The remaining Ballista and Bowmen on the move again shoot into Tiamat the Broodmother. She got a Radiance of Life heal last turn, but I think that was it. She is wavered again. The Bowmen missed, but the war machine landed 2 damage if memory serves. Rallying has saved her in both instances, 

The Giant fighting the Tunnel Runners will get it up around 15 damage and beat it down this turn, then turn to face the center. The other Giant again cleaves into the horde of Ratkin Warriors, but fails to rout them. I've been rolling hot with the extra attacks, getting 8+ on 2d6, but the horde has been getting some heals and it's just a lot of Nerve to cut through. 

My Knights countercharge Cheesar's Troops. Phalanx will penalize them again, but they and the Captain roll a bit closer to average this time, and are able to rout the unit, since Hairless Potter the Warlock doesn't inspire anything despite looking amazing in his little hat.

A horde of Ratkin falls!

I believe one needs to be disordered to lose Fly, so my General disengages from the Vermintide and flies a short distance away, safe for next turn.

Bottom of Round 5: Ratkin

The red Warriors counter-charge the Giant again, dealing a fresh 4 to bring him to 12 damage, but roll up a 5 for the Nerve check, and the Giant is perfectly fine to continue on with this grinding combat.

One Mutant Rat-Friend finally gets to fight something, and makes use of Strider to charge the Knights, dealing 7. They are rallied and Inspired by the Captain, and Waver, but it was close.

A close-up shot.

The Royal Guard Shock Troops also decide it is time to play the scenario, and they now turn to face the center. The Vermintide is left to block up the Giant, should it break through next turn.

Combats and such at the end of Round 5.

Scud Lite gets into the other Ballista, deals 5 damage, but fails to rout it.

Top of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men

The Knights pass their Headstrong check, and counter-charge the Mutant Rat Friend. It's only Defense 4, and with Crushing Strength from their item, Knights roll well just well enough to see if off the table.

The Captain had overrun 6" after besting the Shock Troops last turn. This turn he charges out to boop the other Mutant Rat Friend, and being Mighty, will prevent the Friend from really helping or scoring as the game concludes.

Things start to get crowded in the center.

The central Militia see a flank and take it, charging the Royal Guard Shock Troops. They deal just 1 damage, which is immediately Iron-Resolved back... Though the General nimbly flies back to threaten the rear of the Shock Troops should this go to a Round 7. The Giant that beat the Tunnel Runners is a few inches shy of being able to charge the unit, but moves up as well for a potential Round 7.

The Giant swings again into the red swarm of Ratkin Warriors, dealing a fresh 9 and getting them just a point from being devastated if they weren't Rallied. With Brutal, the Giant should easily see them off, but the Warrior rats are now found to be insanely courageous! Sheesh.

Maybe I should just never charge with the Militia? That might be a good rule of thumb.

We now spring the new Militia trap against Scud Lite, with the Ballista moving back to make room for the charge. The Militia get no hits against the pesky Scurrier.

Bottom of Round 6: Ratkin

The now-insane red Warriors countercharge the Giant, again. Now unwavered, we realize that there is just enough room to get Mama Tiamat in against the Giant as well on a charge. In the ranged phase she will attempt a Drain Life, score 1 point, and Rout the Giant since he is uninspired! He must be traumatized from all the rat-bashing. Magic and spells are still largely unexplored for me, so even on the receiving end of things, it was neat to see a unit get in and mix it up like this. I guess I didn't realize that the spell could be cast by a character in combat themselves, which definitely makes it a bit more of an interesting choice.

The Ratkin are finally able to reinforce, brining in Mama Tiamat and her magic.

Scud Lite breaks away from the Militia, and goes after my ASB. He deals just 3, but the ASB is wavered.

The Mutant Rat-Friend counters the Captain and deals 5, but the Captain sticks around and prevents this Friend from scoring.

The center is a bit dicey in retrospect. My Militia were scoring, but the Royal Guard counter-charge them, deal 19, and rout them. I charged in looking for the disorder, and playing for a Turn 7 to clean up this horde completely. I hadn't measured, so with the Militia obliterated, the only two things I know are scoring are our  respective hordes, so I think charging in with the Militia could be considered a mistake on my part.

The Ratkin has just enough space to reform when counter-charging.

We take stock of the table and the time, and decide to just call the game here instead of rolling for a  potential Round 7. This is as good as it's going to get for the Ratkin.

The table when we called it. The Royal Guard was undamaged and had het to use their victorious reform... but they will have something scary in every arc no matter how they swivel.

For the Ratkin, the Royal Guard Shock Troops are scoring, for 4 US. I didn't measure them last turn as they moved as far as they could, and it would be what it would be, but the Bowmen (3 US) and Pikes (3 US) do make it into the zoen to join my Foot Guard (4 US), tipping the scenario into my favor. 

It is a 10-4 victory for the Kingdoms of Men!

Game Conclusions

My opponent's army is just fantastic with lots of cute stuff and interesting conversions, plus lots of fun custom banners. Everything looks really crisp and the classic green bases really make the paint jobs pop. In short, I love it!

The Ratkin seem like one of the more complex armies to run. While most rosters started 3rd Edition with lots of fancy keywords, the conditional inspiring and such have largely gone away. Not so with the Ratkin! Their list-building looks to take a lot of effort, and my opponent was going through an additional hoop avoiding a lot of the shooty "Tek" units and going with a grindy, healing list. I think using Scud on defense to intercept my flier and try to pin him down for a Friend to then bash in the following turn, or deploying the red Warriors wider on the flank instead of in reserve makes this a much closer game as it's harder to jump his line.

Game-wise I think my opponent was just unprepared for dealing with my fliers, despite even taking one out in Round 1. My Generals are just passable combatants (just ask the Vermintide, or Scud Lite!), and not usually significant threats on their own. Fliers are hard to deal with, and while he was very cognizant of protecting his flanks and reactively denying my charges when he could, but it basically took both Rat Friends out of the game entirely. As long as he was reacting, I was happy to move around and just pressure things with my General for most of the game. Having shooting, I was able to apply pressure from Round 1 onward, and with my opponent reacting to my fliers, he was never able to really get his own plan going.

Testing Conclusions

• Knight Horde with Brew of Strength.  Charging in against the Plague Pot timing is probably the only what I could have done to use these worse! Pressuring the right flank was fine as they were tying up about twice their points between the horde and two Friends, but when it came to combat, charging into the forest against a unit with Phalanx was not great. Still, despite all that they were able to bully their way through the horde over two turns, making use of their Brew of Strength like I intended. They survived long enough to get a counter-charge off against the Friend, and making it to the end of the game was unbelievable. I still not the biggest fan of the horde, as it is just so unwieldy, but Brew of Strength was a much better choice, and they were able to bully things this game for sure. I can't say they didn't perform well.
• Archer Horde with Oil. These overperformed too. Rolling 20 dice led to some lucky hit rolls, and up against a lot of Defense 4, those bonus hits snuck some additional damage in, especially in the early turns. Pairing them with the Giants was also a good call as the Giants pushed out so my opponent couldn't pressure the Bowmen. Cartwright was on to something! 
• Foot Guard with Chalice of Wrath. As in the previous game, I wanted to try and preserve these so they could be a late-game threat. The scenario made this approach even more imperative. With my opponent not pushing through the center early on, I was content to sit back with these and let the game unfold for a bit. Not an exciting game for them, but they did their part.
• ASB with Lifeleech 1 and Lute. He was babysitting the Foot Guard both games, which have been played pretty conservatively. Two games in a row and the new buff still hasn't come up at all! Yes, it is a buff, but it still doesn't synergize all that well with the army, and is limited to infantry only. It just feels awkward. Since I've usually been running an ASB anyways, we'll continue to play around with this though, and I have some other list ideas to try and explore the buff with him.
• Captain. He made it to the table this time, and did some good work for me. Using the redeploy for tweaking and not for tricks worked much better for me this time aroudn. More Inspiring was nice to have since my Generals are busy flying about, and Rallying even let the Knights stick around to attempt their Headstrong check when fighting the Friend. It turns out, when he makes it to the table, he does ok and contributes to the game! A nice choice, and we'll run him again.
• Ballistae. As before, these performed surprisingly well. I think at least one shot got through every turn, and even with just a d3 Blast, that's pretty solid output for just 60 points.
• Pikes. My original plan was to stick these on either side of the Foot Guard horde, and I had deployed one early before seeing my opponent commit all the cavalry out on my left. Redeploying the early unit seemed like a good idea. They did ok, but didn't do too much, and have been dying quicker than expected. Giving a source of Inspiring (ASB with War Bow), and/or updating them with Indomitable Will could turn them into better roadblocks.
• Rampage Giants. Rampage really worked well against the Hackpaws, where I rolled up more than average for the extra attacks, and trounced the regiment in one go. I rolled equally well in the three grinding combats with the horde of red Warriors... but just couldn't get through the tar pit. There is a facet in this evaluation that I am struggling to express here. We'll see if I can make more sense of my thought with some extra time or a future game. In short, I still think both Slayer and Rampage are viable choices for Giant, but since the extra attacks have such a wide variable, I don't know if it makes a huge difference.
• Militia. They were around? Statistically they should have done a few damage in each of their combats, but flopped. I want to get a bit more mileage out of these cheap units (Regiments of stuff like Militia, Draugr and Zombies), but I think it might be better in many cases to just move them around and not give up the free countercharge. I think I'll try a more passive approach with these kinds of units in my next games.
• Rallying. Rallying played a huge role this game. It saved the Brood Mother (Mama Tiamat) from dying a few times, put some normally close checks out of my reach several times with the red Warriors, and then on my end, it let the Knights survive and only be wavered in Round 5.

I had a great time seeing my opponent again so soon and seeing the scampering Ratkin in action for the first time! Many thanks to my opponent for fitting this game in!