Hobby Update: Herd Harpies

Up now are some Harpies for the Herd!

Both units.

The models are Chaos Furies from the Chaotic Beasts Warcry box. I picked up a box of assembled minis via ebay, and I have used the Rapyoryx minis from it for my Herd Rimewings (Scorchwings), but wasn’t sure what to do with these. I think it was one of Boss_Salvage’s reports that I saw them used as Harpies and figured I’d steal the idea… The models fall far short of the usual acceptable model count for a unit, but with only three possible sculpts, I am stuck with them for now. Fortunately, they do fill do up the base well enough for some casual games.

This unit is something out of an animation handbook. Figure 2: The Harpy spots prey and takes flight.

Hobbying-wise, I did the bases up first, including the snow. The minis came assembled but needed priming, and the spring weather has largely been uncooperative. Once primed, they got my usual Herd paint scheme of MSP’s Glacier Blue for skin, a blue shade, and then white hair. A second layer of snow effect was added afterwards to hide the join to the base in places, especially with the ruins.

This unit is a bit more chaotic.

Herd have some peculiar chaff. The Gur Panthers have been my go-to, since they are what I have had access to. Fortunately for me, they have done well! They are amazingly quick and can keep up and block for everything in the army, but with only 6 attacks, their ability to hunt war machines or reliably disorder something has been questionable.

The Woodland Critters is slightly cheaper, but far inferior to the Panthers. As discussed in their hobby post as well as their debut game, you are paying for a lot of special rules that just bloats the units price. At Speed 6 they are actually one of the slower things in the army, and might not be able to get where you need them to block threats.

Excluding additional options like Centaur troops, for Herd chaff, the Harpies look like the best of the bunch? For 5 points over the Panthers you gain fly and two extra attacks, making them a little more reliable in potential disruptive or offensive roles while still retaining the speed you need to get them where they need to be. 

The Gur Panthers have been solid, but the Harpies should be on par with them, and might even get some additional tricks in during games due to having Fly. We’ll need to get some testing in!

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #059 Abyssals vs Dwarfs [Invade]

Intro and Lists:

I ended up with an unexpectedly free day on the weekend, and was very fortunately able to arrange a game to fill it on short notice! Answering the call was the gregarious Joe, who I had met previously but had yet to play against. He's been on a tear in the league games with his Imperial Dwarfs, running a Flame Belcher and some Ironguard and Mastiff spam, but this was his first larger game. He brought the following for his debut with Imperial Dwarfs at a tournament points level:

I am a fond follower of Darkblack's battle reports, and his Tales of the Fools Hold saga, but have never actually faced off against the Imperial Dwarfs before, and was excited to do so, even with all of the Def 6 units across from me. This man knows what he likes! Building off of his Ambush lists, we have an incredibly sturdy line with a ton Ironguard, and the powerful Royal Guard infantry formation for the dwarfs. All six of the Dwarf infantry units have throwing Mastiffs, and the horde had received the Hammer of Measured Force, which is a neat trick on an good quality anvil unit! Two hordes of equally defensive Earth Elementals and even a Greater Earth Elemental take the field. The only war machine is the Flame Belcher, but that could easily roast much my low-defense list if I am not careful! For inspiration and support the Dwarfs had a rifle-toting Warsmith, a Flame Priest, a Stone Priest, and nifty ASB, with their Sacred Horn bringing the (very) Inspiring bubble out to 12 inches, and the Elite aura from the formation out to 9 inches. (Edit: after publication, it was pointed out that Inspiring is it's own special rule, and while functionally similar, doesn't interact with the Sacred Horn.) Overall, it was an incredibly sturdy army. Not a lot of offensive picks, but throwing Mastiffs and Fireballs should weaken things up, and the Defense 6 wall paired with the Bane Chants should be able to grind out many things.

I brought the above, continuing my exploration of Abyssal MSU play, and taking no unit larger than a regiment. To briefly recap the thinking, one gets a discount in King of War for running a larger unit, so I am thinking that one way to approach MSU is with units that max out at the regiment size, since you are getting the best cost you can for the units you are taking. For this game, I eased off on my usual Flamebearers (and the Seductress/Enthrall combo) in order to focus more on the melee aspects of the army, and brought a lot of doubles to help with testing. For evaluating MSU, I am still interested in everything:

• Abyssal Guard. I still feel like spamming them is a bit odd, but that they are still the best unit for me and this playstyle, so I need to take some. Since they, the Succubi and the Flamebearers are all 150 points base now, I am still tweaking my infantry lineup. Fearless and Regeneration should hopefully keep them around longer than usual, and the CS should let them punch back.
• Succubi. Still testing these out. I am still running these without the Lurker, and I think these need to be more instigators and blockers than damage dealers themselves.
• Flamebearers. The Flamebearers have been great, but have struggled for a few games. With average dice, they need about three units to reliable one-shot a regiment, and that's a very wide and unwieldy frontage to manage. We'll see what I can do with two units. Depending on the scenario, they may be decent objective holders for me.
• Oathbreakers. Unlike the Guard unit they are based on, these didn't get a points discount, so I've debated whether or not to run them. Twenty-five points is a big upgrade cost. Still, I like my models and my unit, so I'll keep bringing these along more often than not.
• Gargoyles. The Gargoyles have been nice flying chaff. I've tricked myself a few times with Nimble though, so we'll try to focus on the basics here, keeping them back until they are needed to block.
• Tortured Souls. As fliers but lacking Nimble, these have been hard to use as flankers and outriders. There just aren't enough pivots to get them around things! They've worked best as instigators, charging in and holding something up, so we'll try to use them in that role here again.
• Double Chroneas. 
• Double Fiend. The Fiends do a little of everything, and have been great for this style of play. 
• Double Harbinger. Since I was dropping the Seductress, I wanted another source of Inspiring for the army. Rampage is a really interesting aura, and the Firebolts might be of use here and there too. One got the Lute, and the other got the Torc of Dissonance, since I had 10 points left and wasn't sure what to take. We'll see how each of them do, but the Harbingers seem like they'll provide some good support for this style of play as well.

I brought my own terrain, and we used the typical terrain rules, with the buildings as Height 9 blocking terrain, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, stone fences as Height 2 Obstacles, the Hills as Height 3, and the graveyard as Height 1 Difficult Terrain. The store's tables are only 40 inches deep though, so we shrank our deployment zones down to maintain the buffer between the initial lines of battle. Also of note, our playmat was a section of camouflaged cloth that works very nicely on the table. For anyone looking to get some cheap battle mats, consider stopping by some craft stores and checking this out!

We rolled up Invade for the scenario, which is nice and simple. Just get the majority of a unit's footprint over the center line, and do this for more unit strength than your opponent does in order to win. I was forced to pick sides, did the lazy gamer move, and got things going for deployment.

The Imperial Dwarfs. Nothing in the list is below Defense 5... though I don't realize this until later.

From left-to-right for my perspective, we have the Greater Earth Elemental, the Stone Priest nestled in there, then both Elemental Hordes. This was a rock-solid flank (har-har). There was a small woods, and then the formation took center field, with the ASB and a unit of Ironguard in reserve. Out on the far-right were two more Ironguard, the Warsmith, and the Flamebelcher cannon.

The center and right of the Abyssals.

I was hoping to consolidate my forces a bit, but given the scenario and with my opponent going wide, I needed to spread out a bit myself. On the right, I had Succubi hiding behind a hill to delay, and Gargoyles to yolo into the Flame Belchers and hopefully take it out quickly before it could roast me.

The stacked left and center of the Abyssals.

The dwarven spears and formation came down early. At Def5, the formation is the weakest part of the opposing force. Instead of trying to play the scenario with them and sneak them across the table, I opted to put both Flamebearer regiments opposing the formation, supported by the Lute ASB, the Fiend on their left, and some Abyssal Guard on their right. Hopefully I can burn something with them.

It might be foolish given their high defense, but I ended up committing a lot to fight the elementals. They are slow, so I may have been able to ignore them entirely, but that's a lot of Unit Strength to just avoid. From left-to-right we have Tortured Souls screening a Chroneas, another Abyssal Fiend, the legendary Oathbreakers, more normal Abyssal Guard with the Tonc ASB and Gargoyles in reserve, and the Tortured Souls screening the second Chroneas. Screening the Chroneas was a bit on an accident, but I kind of like it. The Tortured Souls have worked well as a small tarpit, so hopefully they can do that, and then let the Chroneas pile in and do work.

Given the scenario, I was pretty happy with my deployment overall, as I wasn't going to get any dwarf unit march across the field for free. Still, this was my first game against Imperial Dwarfs, so we'll see how it goes! My opponent won the roll-off for deciding first turn, and stuck me with it.

Top of Round 1: Abyssals

With nothing in shooting range myself, the Abyssals just moved up. Over on the right, the Gargoyles and Succubi tentatively move up, wary of the range the Flame Belcher can spew its fire. Both should be out of range of the fires of the machine next turn, though the Gargoyles should have a charge into it on my next turn even if it doesn't move for some reason. That's the plan here. The Gargoyles will charge the war machine and the Succubi move up to help delay.

Movement for the Abyssals, Top of Round 1.

The center moved up. I didn't want to push too hard here given the power of the Royal Guard formation and the weakness of my own center. The Guard moved as far as they could, getting into the woods. The Flamebearers move a little over their base Speed, and the Fiend moves up as well.

Movement on the left is a bit more aggressive.

Out on the left, the Chroneas moves at the double and passes the Tortured Souls. I want to do everything I can to make sure she has a charge next turn in order to start putting Cloak of Death on all these Def 6 Elementals. 

The rest of the line on the left moves up aggressively as well. It's going to take a lot to break the elemental group, so I want to start those fights as quickly as I can. 

Bottom of Round 1: Dwarfs

Dwarfs are Dwarfs, but they waste no time! The Royal Guard line advances much quicker than I was thinking it would. The Elementals move as swiftly as they can with their Shambling, and the Stone Priest Surges the Greater Elemental a few inches closer to the Chroneas, but far short of making a surging charge. The Flame Priest in the woods is able to reach the Abyssal Guard, and his massive Fireball lands 4 damage, but the Fearless Guard holds firm. In later discussions with my opponent, I apparently received an early Insane Courage result at some point. I didn't write it down as it wasn't any big upset. This check may have been it. 

Quick aside: My opponent had a fabulous "mithril" look to many of his weapons. I like it!

The Royal Guards in the center mostly moves up at the double. I think it was just some wishful thinking of mine that they were going to be hang back! Hanging back might be my own tendencies showing themselves again. The aggression makes sense given the scenario and what is opposing them.

The Dwarfs move up, very aggressively. 

Over on the right, the Ironguard keep pace with the Flame Belcher, moving up slightly. Most of the Dwarfs moved at the double, so can't toss their Mastiffs this turn.

The Warsmith apparently trains Sharpshooter regiments in his free time.

The Warsmith can also shoot this turn, and does so into the Stealthy Succubi, and lands 3 damage. The Nerve check is blazing hot as well, and the Succubi are wavered! A great start for the Dwarfs.

Top of Round 2: Abyssals

The wavered Succubi elect to hold. The Gargoyles follow the plan though, and throw themselves into the Flame Belcher, and do barely manage to rout it, since even the war machine is Defense 5. The Gargoyles can't really overrun (they'll clip the Ironguard and be stopped immediately), and can't really get out of the charge arc of the nearby infantry unit either. They reform, trying to spin awkwardly so the Ironguard will need to spin around too, potentially opening them up to a rear charge from the Succubi, if the ladies can get their act together and the Gargoyles somehow hold.

I didn't expect them to hold, but should have been more precise with the victorious positioning. 

Centrally, the Abyssal Guard moves out of the woods. They are Inspired, and this should force some choices from my opponent. The Flamebearers back up to deny charges, and both fling into the Bulwarkers, joined by the Abyssal Fiend and his fireball. I am surprised to find out that the Bulwarkers are Def5, and that nothing in the list is below 5. The dwarfs sure are sturdy! For damage, both Flamebearers roll a little lower than expected, landing 2 apiece but Fireball somehow makes up for their poor performance, and they are brought up to 8 damage. I forget that the Harbinger has a Firebolt attack as well, otherwise he should have tossed in here too, as there is nothing to Bane Chant. The Bulwarks are inspired, and needing a 7 twice, the Nerve Check toys with me, swinging wildly from Doomed to Insane Courage for the results.

On the left, I don't want any surprise flank charges if I can help it, But I can't get anything in against the Stone Priest to disorder him. I eventually decide to engage against all the Elementals with a lot of charges, and make use of all my extra units here!

Mayhem! My charges took a lot of time to figure out.

First, the Chroneas and the Fiend charge into an Earth Elemental Horde. Then, the Abyssal Guard that took the Fireball gets into the flank of the Greater Earth Elemental, joined by some Tortured Souls in the front. The Oathbreakers just had the inches but not the line of sight (Height 3 Unit behind a Height 3 Hill) to hit the reddish Elementals, so they take the hill, ready to charge off of it for the Thunderous Charge bonus next turn.

Cloak of Death manages to hit all of the Elemental battle group. The Chroneas rolls up 4 extra attacks, but the monster and the titan falter, dealing just 4 damage between them, with the Fiend contributing just 1 damage. The Greater Earth Elemental ends the turn at 10 damage. The Tortured Souls catch the last Elemental horde in the front, landing 2 damage. Nothing breaks, but that's expected, and some good progress is made, especially against that Greater Elemental.

The Abyssal Guard regenerate 3 of their damage, with the last one being "timed" away by the Chroneas! Its nice to have some healing in a list for once.

The other Chroneas didn't have a charge this turn. With the dwarf center pushing up so aggressively, she lines some charges up for the coming turn, with the Gargoyles sticking close to interdict.

Bottom of Round 2: Dwarfs

On the left, the Greater Elemental counter-charges the Tourtured Souls, landing 5 damage, but the Nerve check is low and the spirits stick around. 

The Elemental horde counter-charges the Fiend, dealing 5 and Wavering him with a hot 10 on the dice.

My opponent figures out his ranged targets with tokens, and the Fiend takes a very strong charge.

The other Elemental Horde is a wily bunch of rocks. They disengage, letting the nearby Flame Priest Fireball the Abyssal aggressors while the Bulwarks introduce them to their throwing Mastiff. Just six damage is done, and the Elementals are then surged back in and then Bane Chanted, thanks to the special upgrades on the Stone Priest. A very solid play from my opponent! 

The Stone Priest double-cast is new, but I'm aware of this Shambling trick, although it's been a while since I've encountered it. Touching on some of the rule's highlights for anyone unfamiliar: since the horde needed to withdraw, it will still take a -1 penalty in the coming melee. (Big Red Book, pg. 27) The optional withdraw rule doesn't care that the horde is fighting the same unit, just that it made the withdraw move here. I take damage in the ranged phase, but since I am now engaged with a unit, I don't take a Nerve check at the end of the phase here. (Big Red Book, pg. 31). 

Edit: Boss_Salvage on the forum has this to add: "Those elementals were most likely just Disengaging (i.e. backing up under their own movement), which doesn’t incur a Melee penalty and can be done regardless of Withdraw existing. Assuming they didn’t back up over 2.5", in which case they would indeed need to use the extra 1" from Withdraw, but that seems excessive and unlikely when the goal was to get shots in from other targets before surge-charging back in."

The Ironclad Horde with the hammers go into my central Fiend. With the Sacred Horn on the ASB, they are in range for the auras, and 21 of their 25 attacks hit, and 10 damage is done to the poor devil. He is wavered after the beating.

The Imperial Dwarfs are already hitting hard! We're just in Round 2!

Three Mastiffs are thrown into the Abyssal Guard lurking near the woods, and the dogs each land 3 damage apiece, but the Guard are Inspired, and manages to hold with a low check.

The Warsmith shoots his shot at something, but nothing hits. I don't think he had line of sight to the Guard, so this may have been at the Succubi again.

Top of Round 3: Abyssals

Out on the right, the Succubi can see some Ironguard, who have not yet thrown their Mastiff, and so the ladies will charge in, and they will land a solitary point of damage onto the dwarf defenders, who are then found to be Insane. This charge takes them even with the flank of the nearby unit, making this a one-on-one fight for now. Both Ironguard on still on his side of the board, so the delaying tactics are working out well here!

Charges from the Abyssals.

The ranged phase is disappointing. The Flamebearers can't quite get 50% of the Bulwarkers into their field of view, so they fling with cover penalties into the unit... with nothing hitting. Bane Chant in to the Guard fizzles as well, and both of the Fiends are too preoccupied to Fireball anything.

Thankfully, the Fiends have Fury, and they will both countercharge. Centrally, one is joined by some Flamebearers against the Ironclad. They can't toss into anything this turn, and a second unit should help to hold the horde in place in the coming turns. Both they and the Fiend will each deal 2 to the horde, which holds, obviously.

I do spy some flank charges though. I think I have good odds, so the Green Chroneas takes the flank of some Ironguard, while their other flank is assaulted by some Abyssal Guard (who don't get the Bane Chant). Indeed, I am fortunate enough to take the unit off! The Chroneas opts to heal up the Fiend, who is just within range. 

The Abyssals rack up a few victories out on the left flank.

The remaining unit of Gargoyles fly up, trying to prevent the Bulwarks from aiding the elemental fights.

On the hill, the Torc Harbinger should still be able to see the Flame Priest, and is within 12 Inches, so decides to stop the Fireball for a turn.

The good news for the Abyssals continues out on the left. Cloak of Death hits the elemental battle group again. The Stone Priest has been getting healed via Radiance of Life, but damage on all the elementals is amazing for me. The Fiend furiously counter-charges, with the Chroneas joining back in. They decide to try and use the pointy ends of their weapons this time, but are still having some issues, landing just 6 damage between them this turn. Still, at 12 damage total, the Inspired Nerve check happens to go my way, so I can't complain. The Chroneas heals the Fiend for 3 as the titan backs up, and the monster itself decides to change facing.

The Tortured Souls will countercharge the Greater Earth Elemental, Lifeleeching some damage off, and with the Abyssal Guard again hitting the flank of the rocky titan. They bring it up to 18 damage, and manage to best the titan! 

The Oathbreakers gain Thunderous Charge as they leave the hill to fight against the Earth Elementals who have been Blessed by the Gods. The tactics are with me but the dice are little reluctant, and they deal just 3 damage, bringing the Horde to 7 damage total, who hold. At Def 6, I wasn't going to rout them, but I was hoping to make a little more progress against them. Still, I didn't think I'd be able to rout the other horde nor the Greater Elemental this turn, so things are going very well here!

Bottom of Round 3: Dwarfs

Out on the right, the Ironguard counter-charge the Succubi. I forget that I have Ensnare, and 5 more damage is done to them, but the ladies hold. 

More charges from the Imperial Dwarfs.

The Abyssal Guard that helped flank the Ironclad take a multi-charge from the dwarfs, with the maimed Bulwarks and Ironclad going in against the elite Abyssal unit. The Bulwarks catch a Bane Chant to help them out. The Guard do surprisingly well, but take just enough damage to be devastated, and then routed. As is proper.

The Warsmith shoots into the Flamebearers, landing 1 damage.

The Ironclad horde thumps the Fiend and then reforms, eager for more.

The measured Ironguard Horde goes into the Fiend again. The Fiend got a heal, and the dwarfs do struggle a bit, but do manage to bring him up to 15 damage, and rout him. The horde will reform to threaten the Flamebearers.

The Elementals fight on, but are unable to take any units with them.

The Blessed Earth Elementals land 8 damage on the Oathbreakers, but thanks to Fearless, they are able to hold on despite a very close Nerve check.

Positioning in the center at the end of the Round.

The other Bulwarks charge the Gargoyles, and catch a Bane Chant from the Stone Priest, who is trying to escape from the left flank. They started in the woods, so should be hindered, but we don't look to have accounted for that. It's ok, it's chaff. The Bulwarks land 13 hits, which translate into 12 damage against the Gargoyles, and the fliers are skewered. Safe from any reprisals next turn, the Bulwarks will pivot to try and chase down the green Chroneas. 

Top of Round 4: Abyssals

Out on the left, the Tortured Souls start to swing around with 45 degree pivot. The Chroneas hits the Earth Elementals in the flank, with the Oathbreakers and Abyssal Guard hitting the rocks in the front. Defense 6 is still Defense 6, and I struggle to land the blows, but they are still brought up to enough damage to be devastated, while the Chroneas heals the Oathbreakers for 3 with temporal rift silliness.  Unfortunately, the Elementals are found to be quite Insane, and this is my third Insane gift to my opponent.

The last Elemental Horde continue to fight on valiantly.

The Green Chroneas sees the flank of some Ironguard, and charges in, escaping the threat of the pursuing Bulwarks. Both of the Chroneas monster have been rolling mostly 4's for their extra attacks, but failing on the combat rolls. I'm in the flank with 20 total attacks, and only deal 5 damage to the unit (a total of 6 with Cloak of Death). Mathing it out for the report, Defense 6 is still bonkers, and I never had great odds to break them. Going against the maimed Bulwarks (who would be starting this combat at 10 damage) would have been a much better choice I think.

The Abyssals start to get overconfident... it's a flank charge, but a risky one.

The Flamebearers are unengaged, and will turn to focus-fire on the Ironclad, with the remaining Fiend contributing a Fireball, and the Torc Harbinger a Firebolt of her own. They start the ranged phase on 5 damage, and I am able to bring them up to 13, but they do stick around. 

The Lute Harbinger get up enough to inspire both the Succubi and the Flamebearers. The Succubi catch a Bane Chant, and bring the Ironguard to 8, from 1, making up for the previous turn. The Ironguard are then found to be Insane again... a fourth gift to my opponent, though this one hurts less, as routing them would be unexpected, as they are Inspired from the nearby Warsmith.

Bottom of Round 4: Dwarfs

The flanked Ironguard disengage, taking a penalty, and will charge into some Flamebearers. Then the the Ironguard horde flank the poor Chroneas. The maimed Bulwarks perform a forced march to end clear of the Ironguard, while the other unit will just change facing, to stare at the flank of the stalled Oathbreakers.

A strong, if awkwardly positioned line of Imperial Dwarfs.

The Chroneas will take 19 damage, and be devastated and routed. As is proper. The horde will simply spin 180 degrees. The penalized Ironguard will still land 7 damage against the Flamebearers, but they will surprisingly hold.

It's the Abyssal's turn to be Insane again Not nearly as impactful, but I'll take it!

Thanks to his items, the Flame Priest will land another larger-than-normal Fireball into the other unit of Flamebearers., but the dice are a little cool. They'll take just 5 damage, and will now be found to be Insane. Sheesh. Still, they are not Inspired, so I am lucky here.

I will remember Ensnare this time, but the Ironguard don't care. They have good stats, and I am still Defense 3, and the dwarfs will cut the Succubi down this turn.

The insane Elementals are still devastated, but still manage to land 3 into the Oathbreakers, who to hold again, having received the time heal from the Chroneas last turn.

Top of Round 5: Abyssals

The Elementals holding was unfortunate, as three valuable units were fighting them, and all are facing the wrong way now. So this turn I just try to mitigate the damage from the crazy hold. The Elementals had countercharged the Oathbreakers and shuffled to center against them last turn, popping my other units free.

The Chroneas charges the Stone Priest, landing 3 damage and disordering the caster while Cloak of Death hits him, the Elementals, the nearby Bulwarks and even the Flame Priest if memory serves.

The Oathbreakers disengage, and change facing to see the nearby Bulwarks. I would rather have been charging them this turn, but it's the best I can do. They heal a bit with regen, and the Chroneas sends the time heals towards them as well.

The Abyssals scramble to try and deal with the Royal Guard.

The Elementals had to shuffle down to against the Oathbreakers. The Abyssal Guard that had been in that fight were popped out, but due to the shuffle, now have a flank charge into the insane Elementals, and take it. The Elementals are devastated and can't be healed, so we skip the damage and go right for the check... and they are found to be insane again. That's five Insane results for the Dwarfs so far. They all really want to fight!

The Tortured Souls continue to tour the deployment zone of the dwarfs.

The insane Flamebearers regenerate some wounds, and will throw into the maimed Bulwarks. They are brought to 15 damage. They will thankfully be routed off. The other Flamebearers don't have the inches to get into the woods to force a hindered charge from the Ironguard next turn, so they countercharge, hoping for something, but they are unable to get anything through the dwarven armor.

With the Flamebearers throwing into the Bulwarks first, and with them at 15, both Harbingers will Firebolt into the horde of Ironclad, with the Fiend contributing another Fireball. The horde is taken from 13 damage to 15 damage with some very disappointing ranged attacks, and will hold. Still, the Flamebearers here are messing with the horde's charges. The horde can't pivot through the enemy unit, so the Flamebearers are their only charge next turn.

Bottom of Round 5: Dwarfs

I apparently failed to get a picture for this part of the round. At the shop we had our game going, plus a smaller league game, plus a demo game. By this point, the other games had wrapped up, and my reporting and picture-taking took a hit from the socializing.

The still-devastated-but-still-insane Elementals counter charge, changing their facing to fight the Abyssal Guard unit attacking them.

The Bulwarks will charge the Oathbreakers, but the latter will hold on another close Nerve check.

The Stone Priest disengages and eludes the Chroneas, fleeing into the safety of the forest (though the Chroneas can still see them).

The Flame Priest will Fireball the unengaged Flamebearers, who had regenerated down to 2 damage last turn. The Mastiff from the Ironclad horde will be tossed in as well, and the unit will be routed. 

The Ironguard fighting the Flamebears will countercharge and rout them this turn. 

The Ironguard that had defeated the Succubi move forward, hoping to score, but not quite there yet.

The Warsmith fires at and hits the Harbinger with the Lute for 2, wavering him with a good and unexpected Nerve check. The Harbinger is not disordered, so this waver is a bummer, and he won't be able to contribute in the coming round.

Top of Round 6: Abyssals

The Abyssal Guard charge back in, and will finally rout the insane Elementals! The Nerve check is a terror-inducing 3 though. Sheesh. They've earned a sobriquet or fancy title or new paintjob or something at this point. Good riddance!

I finally get to make use of the Rampage aura from the Harbinger, with the Oathbreakers counter charging against the Bulwarks. But they struggle against the armor, and the Bulwarks hold against the attacks.

The touring Tortured Souls make a very hindered charge into the Stone Priest hiding in the woods, but will still land some damage, and will still Waver him.

The Fiend opts to try another Fireball, and the Torc Harbinger tries a Firebolt, both into the horde, which is just barely scoring. We bring it up to 19 damage, but I roll up a  total of 4 on the dice, and they are just wavered, having had their Nerve scores increased by the formation benefits.

The Chroneas lives the dream, and is able to get into two combats in a single turn! 

The Chroneas can see the Flame Priest, and charges in. I did so just to get Cloak of Death onto the horde in the shooting attempt to rout it. However, I am able to land 7 damage against the Flame Priest, bring him to 9, and even get the rout. I realize I need 2" to overrun into the flank of the Ironclad... and get 5! The Chroneas overruns and is able to tip the scales here, dealing enough damage to devastate and then rout the horde. As is proper.

This was unfortunately a “feels-bad” situation for my opponent, as one of his previous opponents had erroneously said this kind of charge was illegal. Joe took it in stride though. I thought the confusion might have been due to a wrinkle with either a Mighty individual, or with resolving the order of melee combats in that particular game, but checking the rulebook for writing up the report, neither seems to be the case, and it was just a wrong call.

Individuals have complex rules, but Mighty doesn’t seem to apply here. Unless I am missing something, it appears any individual can be used as a speed bump into a second combat.  I was surprised to see that the order of combats also doesn’t apply here either. In fact, if the unit overrunning the individual would connect with an enemy unit whose combat that has already been resolved, your overrunning units still gets to have their fight, and this could be a rare instance of a unit needing to take two Nerve tests in a single phase. (Big Red Book, pg. 40.) Good to know!

Bottom of Round 6: Dwarfs

It's been a very bloody battle, and there is not much the dwarfs can do as the game concludes. The Bulwarks charge back into the Oathbreakers, looking to remove some unit strength, but the latter holds again with yet another close check.

The Ironclad that bested the Succubi make an ordered march into scoring position, and use their pivot to look at the Harbinger, their only target. They still have their Mastiff, and throw it against the Harbinger, with the Warsmith shooting at the Abyssal character too. Character hunting isn't a bad use for Mastiffs from the look of it, and Mastiff spam is very strong. The Harbinger is mauled.

The last toss from the Dwarfs. Pen should be the Round 7 charge range of the Fiend.

For scoring units, my opponent is reduced to just two damaged Ironclads for the scenario. Each unit contributes 3, for a total Unit Strength of 6 for the Imperial Dwarfs.

The Fiend isn't scoring, as the center line is running very nearly parallel to his flank facing and is just between him and the graveyard. Still, the Oathbreakers (3), Abyssal Guard (3) Tortured Souls (2) and Chroneas (1) are all scoring for a total of 10 Unit Strength for the Forces of the Abyss.

We do not roll up a Round 7, so the routing of the Ironclad horde brings this from a tie to a solid victory for the Abyssals!

Game Conclusion

I think this holds the record for most Insane Courage results in a single game for me. I received 2, and my opponent got a ridiculous 5, which might have secured the infamous title on its own. Statistical tomfoolery aside, this was a great game!

For a first attempt at a larger list, Joe did great! I was excited to see the Imperial Dwarfs in person, and they definitely did not disappoint! The Mastiffs are an amazing tool, and Ordered March really helps the Dwarfs move around the battlefield. Defense 6 “spam” is definitely a choice, but a strong and competitive option for the Imperial Dwarfs, and the list is a great foundation to build off of for future games. He played a great game here, and I am looking forward to the next one already!

I haven’t sat down and thought things out in any analytical manner, nor am I a competitive tournament player to be in an authoritative position to do so, but metagame-wise, it seems like Gladestalker-like shooting lists and Def6 spam and should both give Abyssal MSU some serious problems. Shooting should be able to focus-down the smaller regiments quickly, and tackling Def6 units requires some specialized tools (Monsters or Alchemist Curse or very heavy-hitting units), which cannot be everywhere at once. Coming up against such a sturdy list, and against a new army, I was immensely happy to come out of this with a win, and overall, I was pleased with my play.

Testing Conclusions

• Abyssal Guard. I think the Def5 version has potential in the average list, as so few units in the roster can get up to Def5, but given the playstyle of my particular list here, the CS version still seems best for me right now. I need all the CS I can get! The unit “works” due to having both Fearless and Regeneration, which has let them stick around and do work every game. Seemingly, they still my best infantry option here.
• Succibi. Well, I need to do better at remembering their rules, though even with Ensnare they should still be taking about 5 damage in that combat. With no regeneration and just Def 3, they are just so darn fragile. Overall, they did ok with delaying my opponent, and could operate well instigating for an Abyssal Guard unit, running up and taking the early hits. I’m still not a big fan, but am still trying to brainstorm a role for them. Upgrading them with the Lurker for Pathfinder, giving them an item, babysitting with a BC Warlock all makes them better, but my gut still says this would be good points chasing bad. 
• Flamebearers. I really like the unit, but as mentioned before, you need about 3 to reliably do enough damage to rout regiments, and that’s a huge frontage to manage. Two regiments seemed fine, and they found ways to contribute. They did not have good rolls this game, but still did ok overall. I still think I want to run regiments over troops, as the extra Nerve lets Regeneration work better.
• Oathbreakers. They must have heard me doubting them! Nearly every Nerve check landed at a total of 16, and they just shrugged it off. Rally is still nice to have around for the extra safety. They are probably over-costed, but I am still liking them. 
• Gargoyles. They had a great game! I didn’t realize the war machine had Def 5, so I was very lucky to rout it in one go. And flying on chaff is great, letting the other unit get just where I needed them to be. I think I did good with them this game.
• Tortured Souls. Knowing that they are better at holding things up than at flanking and outriding, I decided to commit hard to fighting the Earth Elementals, using the Tortured Souls to instigate head-on. I gotta say, this worked out well for me, and better than expected! The surviving one probably should not have gone touring, but I still found a way to get some use out of him in the late-game. It seems I am slowly figuring out this unit.
• Chroneas. Obviously the MVPs. Against all this Defense 6, Cloak of Death did a lot of work and CS3 helped too, despite some low rolling. They still did enough damage to get great use out of the Temporal Fissure healing something every combat. These were great for this playstyle.
• Abyssal Fiend. I tried leaning into the ranged attacks more this game, with middling success since my Firebolts kept fizzling. Other lists can get better value from other units, but the Fiends are still good for this playstyle!
• Abyssal Harbingers. I committed a lot to beating the Elementals, so Rampage didn’t get to proc too much this game. Two recent games have demonstrated the potency of the Sacred Horn though, and extending two different auras (Rampage and Very Inspiring) could be very helpful for me. (As noted in the intro, we got this wrong, and Inspiring is its own thing, and not an Aura, and won't be boosted by the Horn.) I remembered they had a Firebolt attack a few turns in, and this might even be enough to justify running some without items, if need be. Overall, I am still glad ASBs got buffs, and I like the Harbinger buffs in particular! They do seem to work well with this MSU playstyle here too.

My opponent played a great game and took the edge case in Round 6 in stride. It was great to see a new army across the table, and the “mithril” armor looked really slick and unique. I greatly appreciated him fitting this in on short notice, and had a very wonderful afternoon. Signing off with a very big thank you to my opponent!

Hobby Update: Herd Tribal Spears

Wisconsin has been "Wisconsining" pretty hard lately with regards to the weather, peaking around 70F three weeks ago, then swerving hard to nearly a foot of snow as we entered into April, then a bit of a happy medium, and now we hit 80F over the weekend here. The see-sawing of the last few weeks had been accompanied by a lot of precipitation, and not great for priming just yet.

Fortunately, I had scored a bundle of broken but mostly painted GW Ungors from ebay back in February, and I was able to hobby them up last week, no priming required! Matching up broken spear points (or getting close enough for a match) took quite some time, but I now have a second horde of Tribal Spears ready to aid the Herd on the battlefield!

The new horde! With some vibrant spears!

For hobbying, as-mentioned, the minis are GW Ungors. A few were from the newer kit, but most were from an older box back from the days of slotted bases. That kit had ludicrously long spears, and most of those were broken, but fixable. I haven't used it much in my hobbying, but I tried some plastic cement here, to fuse the broken bits back together. That seemed to set nicely and quick, and any persisting weak joins got a little super glue and/or white PVA glue as needed to help reinforce. The spears are still thin and long and bendy, but are mostly at the same heights and are as sturdy as I can get them right now, so we're calling them done and calling this a win.

A regiment.

Everything had received a quick rinse as I unpacked it back in February. There were a lot of mold lines though, and I tried to clean them up as I saw them. Ideally, one would prime over everything at this point, to cover up any naked plastic, but due to weather and laziness, I did not. They just got the usual paint scheme. The previous owner had painted all the wood bright red though, which I thought was interesting while prepping, so I decided to go with it, as this should help differentiate them on the battlefield and in reports.

And the other regiment.

This is my second spear horde for the Herd. I tend to hobby up more units than would be recommended for a usual list, but I also happen to be bullish on them for the army! I am in need of a real a front line unit, and these look like they should do nicely! They have middling stats, but with Phalanx being discounted recently, don't look bad at all on the defensive, and while they lost Thunderous Charge, they are able to purchase it back. This gives them a nice offensive facet not usually found among this kind of infantry unit, and while useless in a grinding combat, can help them pressure things alongside your speedier units. I'll hopefully get both on the table sometime soon and see how things go!

Kings of War 3rd Edition: #058 Kingdoms of Men vs Sylvan Kin [Salt the Earth]

Intro and Lists

I was recently treated to a weeknight game by friend, fellow blogger, and forum-goer Cartwright, who brought his Sylvan Kin over to Madison and met me out at a local shop. He’s been branching out into the Elvish facet of this army recently, and brought the following for our game:

That’s a lot for me to worry about! The very popular and powerful Wiltfather makes an appearance, and two Greater Air Elementals return, which I still don’t have the best answers to. Nimue and a Forest Warden are around to support the cadre of Forest Shamblers, and the Elves arrive in surprising force with a Master Hunter, ASB with Hex, and two regiments each of Tallspears and Gladestalkers. The “Awakened” Elementals are intriguing as they buff the elves nearby, meaning the Sylvan Kin battle line is probably going to be intermixed, and harder to predict during deployment.

I opted to bring the Kingdoms of Men, bringing the list above, and trying to explore some combined arms play ideas of mine. Up to test are:

• Pole Arms Block. I don’t think the horde has had a good showing yet (that is to say, I don’t think they’ve gotten any attacks or counter-charges in yet; just beaten to a pulp over and over), so I feel the need to try them out again! Hopefully they’ll get into a combat and we can see how the horde performs on the offensive this time.
• Pikes and IW. I’ve liked Pikes, but have not always gotten the best mileage out of the regiments, due to errors on my part. Indomitable Will should give me a bit of a cushion to play around with these again, and see what I can make of these. 
• Foot Guard Horde. I like them, but still don’t have the best feel for them just yet. I had the points for Indomitable Will, so I took it here, since this will likely be an important infantry hammer for the list.
• Crossbows. Pot Shot went away, so I conscripted some minis and increased my Crossbowmen to a horde size, but haven’t gotten to run them yet. Not knowing what army I’d face when I ran this list, they got the Fire-Oil (which unfortunately isn’t impactful here, but it’s just 5 points). 
• Triple Ballistae. With the Kingdoms of Men running multiple hordes now, my lists aren’t usually too stressed for unlocks. Point-for-point Ballistae should out perform infantry shooters like the Crossbows, but we’ll see what the table looks like and what they get to see during the game.
• Giants with Rampage. I’ve been pretty committed to Rampaging Giants, and have them again here as hefty counter-punching units. With the Wiltfather and all the Forest Shamblers, Slayer would probably have been more impactful, but these should still deliver some good hits!
• ASBs with Lifeleech and Items. As covered in every Kingdoms of Men post of mine for the last few months, Lifeleech is a buff, but doesn’t have much synergy with our generic list. Still, I need Inspiring units that aren’t my Generals, so we’ll see how impactful and supportive these will be.

We swapped lists the night before, as we try to do. Reviewing the lists, I noticed that we had a potential Tricksters Wand duel coming up! My wand was far more valuable, able to be pointed against Nimue, or even harassing the Wiltfather or Greater Air Elementals (since they had opted to take Lightning Bolt). Therefore, I hoped to deploy my ASBs late to delay or even avoid such a duel. Other than that the Sylvan Kin have a lot of Scouting units, but not a lot of mobility or speed, aside from the Greater Air Elementals. My plan was to deploy very far back in my deployment zone to mitigate enemy scouting, and try to leverage my shooting for as long as I could, but we’ll see what the scenario ended up being.

Table and Terrain

We were out at Misty Mountain Games, a Madison-area FLGS, and making use of their tables and terrain. We used the typical terrain rules, with the buildings as Height 9 blocking terrain, the forests as Height 6 Difficult Terrain, stone fences as Height 2 Obstacles, the Hills as Height 3, and the pond as Height 1 Difficult Terrain. 

Terrain and the seven tokens to start.

We generated a map, we rolled up Salt the Earth for our scenario. The generation was a bit odd with two very close buildings, but we decided to roll with it. For tokens, we ignored about a third of the table, with just two of the seven tokens landing on the left side of the battlefield.

For deployment, from my left-to-right, my opponent had the Wiltfather screened by the Greater Air Elemental (which were his last two drops), as well as the Tree Warden, a normal horde of Forest Shamblers, and a regiment of Tallspears. The buildings isolated this battlegroup from the rest of the lines. Continuing on, we have Nimue, the Master Hunter, the regiment of forest Shamblers, both Gladestalker regiments, the Awakened Forest Shambler Horde, gaining an elvish Rally and Elite for themselves, and finally, the other Tallspear regiment.

Deployment fore the Sylvan Kin, with all the tokens in view.

All my pre-game planning went out the window immediately, and I deployed almost everything I had pretty far up. I had hoped to keep everything somewhat stacked and contained on the right, but with the Wiltfather and Greater Air Elemental coming down so late, I needed to spread out. 

Deployment on the left. With the WIltfather here, I had to go wider than I was thinking.

My last drops were the General and Knights with the boots out on the left. I opted to put the knights out of the woods, hoping for a first turn to move up and start to concave this flank. The Pikes stood ready to march up into the woods, and the Crossbowmen were angled, with the intent of moving up on Turn 1 to take the hill and control this token while raining bolts in the coming turns. They screened the Militia. The Giant also stood ready to take the hill, supported by the Pole-Arms and the Hexing ASB. 

The right of the Kingdoms of Men, and back to all the tokens.

Obstacles don't block line of sight, so the three Ballistae, able to get sight on 5 of the 7 tokens. My right was protected by a nice hill, and had the Foot Guard, Bane-Chant ASB, Pikes, and second General and Giant.

The very aggressive Scout moves for the Sylvan Kin!

The Gladestalkers scouted up ever so slightly into the woods. The Wiltfather, Warden, and Forest Shamblers advanced just shy of about 10 inches, to deny my Giant a turn one charge.

My opponent won to roll off for turn decision, and elected to take it. With such aggressive scouting, I was already feeling the pressure!

Top of Round 1: Sylvan Kin

Out on the left, the Tallspears joined most of the verdant units, hanging out in the middle of the field. The Greater Air Elemental moved up a bit, but was just far enough to deny a charge for my General.

Top of Round 1 and the Wiltfather is already doing damage to me...

The Wiltfather was feeling feisty though, and moved his max to get up into the woods near the Pikes. Since I deployed the Knights a bit to the left to dodge the woods, the Wiltfather is able to avoid their charge arc entirely, while Cloak of Death will trigger for the Crossbowmen and Pikes. 

The rest of the Sylvan Kin line looks to be pacing themselves for a longer game.

In the center, Nimue, the Master Hunter, regiment of Forest Shamblers, and Greater Air Elemental all scoot up slightly, with the Air Elemental taking point.

On the far-right, the Awakened Shamblers and Tallspears advance 6". One Gladestalker unit needs to move up to get into range, but my opponent shoots both regiments, the Master Hunter, and both Lighting Bolting Greater Air Elementals into the poor Pole-Arms, and they accumulate 11 damage! They do manage to hold, but the Healing Brew isn't looking like enough to save them. 

Bottom of Round 1: Kingdoms of Men

Over on the left, the General flies up to get beyond the pond and roughly even with the Greater Air Elemental. The latter is out of charge arc and greater than 10 inches away, meaning the Greater Air Elemental will need to be surged into the General should my opponent with to fight him. These elementals can be tricky, but that seems safe enough to me.

Shuffling about for Round 1.

I charge the Pikes into the Wiltfather. With Ensnare, my Pikes should hold, and hopefully I can counter-punch with the knights, who pivot, securing the potential flank charge.

The Crossbowmen hold. Advancing at all will open them up to a flank charge from the Greater Air Elemental. Thankfully, they have some targets, and loose into the Forest Warden, landing 4, but the caretaker holds strong. 

The ASB moves over, and with Very Inspiring, is able to cover everyone but the Knights. He Hexes the Warden, to limit the Surge options next round. He is also too far away to offer up Lifeleech to the Pikes.

The Giant moves up to the base of the hill, out of charge range but threatening some himself. The Pole-Arms move up, with the Brew healing them for 2. I probably could have moved the horde up at the double, and tried to force the issue and maybe get some use out of them if they survive the next turn... but I do not.

Movement for the Kingdoms of Men.

On the right, the Pikes move up, but hold slightly back, wary of a flank-charge from the Greater Air Elemental. The whirling monster dissuades the General from moving too far up as well, and the Giant is therefore a bit boxed in over here. 

The Foot Guard advance and pivot, hiding behind the hill and safe from Gladestalker fire. I think the Pole-Arms are going to take all the arrows again next turn, but I was scared for the Foot Guard for some reason, and was trying to protect them.

The Ballistae all shoot into the towering Greater Air Elemental near the center of the Kin battle line, and land 8 damage! I don't get lucky here, but that felt like good output to me!

Top of Round 2: Sylvan Kin

Over on the left, the Wiltfather trickily takes a penalty, but will disengage to join the Greater Air Elemental in a multi-charge into the Knights. The Wiltfather is able to catch the far corner of the Knights and slide on down to then make room for the Elemental. I didn't not see this multi-charge possibility, and have nothing set up to react to it on my turn. Cloak of Death hits, and the uninspired Knights are brought up to 10 damage, and then routed!

Charges for the Sylvan Kin. 

Victoriously, the monsters will reposition to threaten my lines, though we look to have made two errors here. The Pikes should have been within range for Cloak of Death, and should be at 2. Then, for the reforms, both are 50mm monsters, and would have been fighting flush, and with both the reforms being to change the facing of the units, should be ending flush as well. Oh well.

Victorious reforms. 

Centrally, the Warden, Shamblers and Tallspears back up, to deny the Giant a charge. Over on the right, the injured Greater Air Elemental will nimbly pivot and fly behind the hill, with Nimue healing it for 1 damage, bringing it down to 7, but it should be scared away for a turn.

The Gladestalkers and Master Hunter loose into the Pole-Arms, and will bring them up to 20 damage, and rout them. So much for seeing what they can do in combat this game!

The rest of the right ambles about for the Sylvan Kin. The Tallspears moves back to deny charge from the Giant. The Awakened Shamblers will move up and burn a token at the end of the turn, bringing us down to 6 tokens to fight over.

Bottom of Round 2: Kingdoms of Men

I am stuck in a very reactive rut it seems. The Giant takes the hill, pivoting to get everything on the left into his front arc. The Tallspears and Shamblers can't reach him, but he can charge them next turn, like he set up to do last turn, and should hopefully be able to catch the Wiltfather, if he commits.

The humans spin around, trying to contain the duo. Thankfully, the rest of the Kin are holding back.

The Pikes are stuck spinning around to face the Wiltfather, and the Militia come up to help block for the Crossbowmen. The ASB Hexes the Forest Warden, and then the Crossbowmen shoot into him, landing 5 damage, and will rout him. A small error but I should have shot first and Hexed second! 

My new mantra with fliers is to always be threatening something. I want to put the decision pressures on my opponent whenever possible. Unfortunately, the General didn't have arc to avenge the Knights, and doesn't have the inches to hop the building and still threaten anything. I also don't want to charge him in solo with the Greater Air Elemental lurking near the building. So he moves up a bit and pivots, like the Giant, seeing as much as he can for next turn, and waiting to see what my opponent will do over here.

Movement on the right, with the Awakened burning a token.

With the Greater Air Elemental scared away, the Pikes move much further up, threatening some charges next turn, supported by both the Giant and the General. The Foot Guard get their leader point up onto the hill, so they can see anything that threatens to charge the Pikes. I probably could have been more aggressive with them here as well, but the plan is to initiate with the faster things (Giant and General) and have the Foot Guard come in for the finishing blows. 

The Ballistae decide to all shoot into the Tallspears near the building. They land 6 damage, but the phalanx holds. Still no kills for them, but again, this feels like decent output, and it should be noted that the trio has been performing far better than the Crossbowmen so far, with regards to damage output.

Top of Round 3: Sylvan Kin

Thankfully, I managed to complicate things for my opponent over on the left. With the Militia and Pikes, my opponent can't flank-charge the Crossbowmen, nor can find a landing place for the Greater Air Elemental to then be surged into anything, since he needs to land an inch away. 

So the Wiltfather goes into the Militia, dealing a whopping 8 and bringing them up to 9 with the Cloak of Death. The Inspired Militia unfortunately melt. With the charge here, the Wiltfather manages to avoid the charge arc of the Pikes, and will reform to face them. Meanwhile, the Greater Air Elemental will nimbly flit about, and throw some Lightning Bolts into the Crossbowmen.

The monster-sized Sylvan avoid retaliatory charge arcs for the third turn in a row!

Nimue Wind Blasts the Giant 3 inches sideways. The injured Greater Air Elemental swings around, lurking behind the Forest Shamblers and Tallspears, also throwing Lightning Bolts into the poor Crossbowmen. It has a charge into my General or Giant next turn, and due to the facing, my General is going to be unable to charge it on my turn to initiate the fight, as he can't slide to connect / land in the flier's front arc.

One of the Gladestalker regiments will reposition, and both, along with the Master Hunter, will shoot into the Pikes out on the right, landing 10 damage between them all, and will rout the unit.

The Awakened Shamblers and the Tallspears here will back up, denying my Giant a charge next turn, since he is a little further back and behind the Pikes.

Bottom of Round 3: Kingdoms of Men

In order to set up a charge but not be charged, I needed to be tricky with the Giant on the hill, but Nimue's Wind Blast pushed my out of my own charge range. I cannot move or spin my infantry enough to get him in against the Wiltfather either. He exposes his flank to the injured Greater Air Elemental, and turns to face the Wiltfather and second elemental in my deployment zone. The Pikes can only impotently spin around again to face the towering treeman. The ASB Hexes the Wiltfather to try and prevent him from Surging anything.

The Crossbowmen will change facing to get both monsters in their front arc, and will shoot into the Greater Air Elemental nearby, landing 3 damage. Not bad for needing to move! The recent Clash update removed Pot Shot, and its absence really helps the unit out! At the end of the turn they will burn the token nearest them, bringing us down to 5 tokens. 

The Crossbowmen are almost into double digits of damage. Not bad for infantry shooting!

My Generals have good stats, but tend not to roll as expected, let alone well. Over on the left, my General backs up, using the building to get him out of the injured Greater Air Elemental's line of sight, but he is still threatening the Forest Shamblers and Tallspears, should an opportunity present itself in the coming turns.

I take the hill with the Foot Guard, slowly.

My right isn't faring much better. With the Pikes shot off in one go, they can't charge, and I can't really set up a good piece trade. My Giant has no charges since the Spears and Awakened Shamblers backed up. I am shy on units, but choose to move the Giant up aggressively, opening him up to a charge but all but ensuring he will be able to charge something next turn.

With some of the shooting efficacy weakened, the Foot Guard take the hill. I probably should have moved them at the double. I am noticing that this is the third turn in a row that I am bemoaning my timidity with them. Like I said in the intro, I don't think I have a great feel for them, and I guess I need to be more aggressive with them.

My Giants and Generals are also having tough times being aggressive. My General on the right can charge several things, but it will be all on his own. I can't clear the Tallspears to jump the enemy line. My least worst option seems to be to make a solitary, hindered charge into some Gladestalkers to disorder them.

In goes the General, for an arguably suicidal charge.

It's not great, but this will disorder some of the shooters for a turn (hopefully protecting the Foot Guard a bit), and he is safe from non-surging flank charges. It's the best I can do, and he lands 2 damage, disordering the Gladestalkers.

The Ballistae all shoot into the injured Greater Air Elemental over on the left, landing another 6 and bringing it up to 13 damage since Nimue healed him up slightly. Thankfully, something good happens this turn, and the war machines rout the monster! 

Top of Round 4: Sylvan Kin

The Wiltfather and Greater Air Elemental make ensnared charges into the Pikes. Ensnare does wonders, particularly against the Elemental, who is flying. The Pikes only take 6 damage, and all from the Wiltfather! And they even hold!

Pikes doing their thing!

The central Tallspears move up to burn the token in the exact center of the battlefield, bringing us down to 4 tokens to fight for.

The Gladestalkers and Master Hunter will shoot into the Foot Guard, dealing 5 damage. The Awakened Forest Shamblers move up slightly, needing a 2" surge to hit the flanks of the General. Nimue does his legendary move, but in a stroke of luck for the Kingdoms of Men, only lands 1 hit with Surge. Cloak of Death his the General, and the Gladestalkers countercharge him, dealing 2, but the General holds.

The Tallspears on the far flank charge the Giant, dealing 3. Hey, at least he'll have a combat next turn!

Bottom of Round 4: Kingdoms of Men

I continue to trip over myself. A combined arms list takes a little more finesse than I brought to the table it seems! Over on the left, the Crossbowmen need to back up and the Pikes need to charge the Wiltfather in order for the Giant to have the space available to connect with the flank of the Greater Air Elemental. Still, the Giant is able to connect! The extra attacks are good! The hit rolls are poor though, and the Giant lands just 8 damage off 26 flank attacks. It's below the average, but is thankfully still enough to rout the second aerial monster!

Pikes facing the wrong way due to pokey bits.

The Pikes manage 1 against the Wiltfather, and the Hexing ASB successfully curses Nimue.

Still on the left, the flying General finally makes his move, opting to flank charge the Forest Shambler Horde. He deals 8, and gets a very spicy 10 on the Nerve check to rout the horde in one go. He'll overrun a few inches, and burn the token they were guarding at the end of the turn, bringing us down to 3 tokens to fight over.

The other General continues against the Gladestalkers, landing a few more damage, but the archer regiment manages to hold firm. My Generals are not powerhouses.

Finally, some proper combats on the right!

The Giant is going into the Tallspears, who are uninspired. It has Rampage, so should be able to grind them out in two turns, maybe even one if I am lucky. So, the Foot Guard weigh their options. They have a flank charge into the Spears, and also a hindered front charge into the Forest Shamblers. The latter charge would be nice, but even with everything rolling average and going right, I'd still only have roughly 50/50 odds to rout them, and a failure here would open them up to a flank or even rear charge from Gladestalkers (we didn't determine). These seem like bad outcomes.

Victorious reforms.

It will be overkill, but the Foot Guards opt to take the flank against the Tallspears while the Giant rampages into their front facing. Again, the Giant's extra attack rolls are great, gaining 9, but the hits are abysmal, and it barely puts a dent in the phalanx, landing maybe 4 damage out of all those mighty swings. Fortunately, the Foot Guards are charging off the hill, and easily devastate the unit and then rout it. The Foot Guard will spin around to keep the Awakened Shamblers in their front arc, and the Giant will overrun, bumping into his comrades in arms, who repositioned first.

(Lifeleech does not trigger for the Foot Guard. I definitely forgot about it.)

It's not ideal since they are stealthy, but the scariest unengaged unit is the Gladestalkers, so I fire all three Ballistae into them. I hit with 1 out of 6 bolts, which blasts into 1 damage. Luckily, the Nerve check is boxcars, and I still get the waver! 

(Neither of us caught it at the time, but the obstacle, while not blocking line of sight, should be providing cover in this situation for a few of the shots. So, paired with Stealthy from the Gladestalkers, I should be on 6's here, not 5's like we played.)

Top of Round 5: Sylvan Kin

The wavered Gladestalkers do nothing. The others counter charge the General, and the Awakened Shamblers hit the flank, and will rout my leader, then reform to face the Giant.

Reforms after dragging the General down.

The Master Hunter opts to shoot into a Ballista, lands 3 damage, and scares the uninspired war machine crew away with a good Nerve check.

The Master Hunter slays a Ballista crew.

Nimue powers through the Hex, to hit the Foot Guard with a Fireball, and the Guard are brought to 9 damage, but hold firm. Nimue looks to have moved here - I think to get away from the flying General and prevent a possible chain charge into the rear of the Awakened Elementals. With Hex, he shouldn't be able to do that and still cast, but we missed it here.

The Wiltfather smashes the Pikes and reforms.

The Wiltfather pounds on the Pikes, and even though he's ensnared, manages to rout them. They were Inspired, and have Indomitable Will, so I was really hoping for the waver here.

Bottom of Round 5: Kingdoms of Men

The Giant charges the Wiltfather. Again, the extra attacks are nice (12 or 13 attacks total), but the rest of the rolls are terrible, and just 2 damage makes it through the tough bark!

The grind is not going well against the Wiltfather.

The Hexing ASB hexes Nimue again, and is 5/5 on the spell for the game. The Crossbowmen can't see part the Giant to join in the fight, so will change facing, and will shoot into the Stealthy Master Archer, landing 1 damage. They should be able to fight the Tallspears off for that token.

The General rear-charges the Tallspears, and gets the rout.

The two remaining Ballistae try to shoot into the previously-wavered Gladestalkers, but nothing hits with the smaller volley. (And again, this should be 6's to hit instead of 5's, and I should be shooting at other things.)

Another multi-charge over on the right.

I continue to trip over myself. The Giant can't pivot around the Foot Guard to take up the General's fight against the Gladestalkers. Due to pivots and angles, the Foot Guard can't get around the Awakened Shamblers to charge anything else, so the Giant and Foot Guard join forces agian make a multi-charge into the Shamblers, with the Foot Guard catching a Bane Chant. Unfortunately, while the Giant rolls up another 4-5 extra attacks, both my units fail their other rolls spectacularly, and only 10 damage total is done to the elemental horde, and it holds with a 4 on the Nerve check. Lifeleech should trigger here too, but doesn't because I forgot about it in the thick of things. 

Top of Round 6: Sylvan Kin

We are down to 3 tokens as the game wraps up.

The Wiltfather countercharges the Giant,  rolls well and takes him to 9 damage!

Not hearing no bell, the Wiltfather continues swining.

Nimue's Cloak of Death hits the Giant and the Foot Guard. The Awakened Shamblers countercharge the Giant, dealing 5 more damage to him, and bringing him to 10. The Giant is found to be wavering, but is furious, so he'll be able to counter charge back in next turn.

The Master Hunter charges the General, trying to ground him, but the General's armor holds.

Both Gladestalkers will shoot into the Foot Guard. Nimue powers through the Hex again for a Fireball into the Guard. The Guard ends at 20 damage and is obliterated, but Nimue sits at 18 damage himself after spellcasting through two hexes.

Bottom of Round 6: Kingdoms of Men

The Lute ASB makes a fun play for Nimue, lands a hit, sticks the damage, and clobbers the legendary spellcaster with the instrument!

*Musical thump*

The Giant furiously countercharges the Awakened Shamblers. The extra attacks are good, but I continue to fail to land more than 25% of the hit rolls with the Giants this game. Still, it's enough, and the unit is routed.

The second Giant has a similar story, landing just 3 of 12 hits into the Wiltfather. Those three hits to translate into three damage, but these two combats were so poor that the legendary tree is in no real danger of routing. I think I needed boxcars twice to do so.

Final positioning in the Bottom of 6.

My General excuses himself from the Master Hunter, disengaging and taking a penalty to making a flank charge into the Forest Shambler regiment, who have been babysitting a token all game. I land 8 damage, but fail to rout the regiment.

The Ballistae fire into the nearest Gladestalkers, who are near a token. Some damage is done (I don't seem to have recorded how much; I think it has less that 5 total at this point), but the regiment will hold when we go to test their mettle.

We are still down to 3 tokens.

The Crossbowmen have moved at the double to secure 1 for the Kingdoms of Men. 

The Forest Shambler Regiment has a US of 2 to the General's 1, wresting control of that token for the Sylvan Kin.

The Gladestalkers are very luckily just barely in range to control the third and final token.

We do not roll up a Round 7, so this makes it a very close 2:1 victory to the Sylvan Kin!

Game Conclusions

Another very fun game and very close game at that!

I deployed a bit poorly (too far up), and was plagued with small positioning errors as the game progressed, as hordes are hard to maneuver and Giants are not nimble. Round 3 where all my Generals and Giants were all in bad spots was particularly rough, and I think I spent 15 minutes trying to figure out my moves there! I didn’t play a particularly great game, but was scrappy enough and had a few lucky things bounce my way in the midgame to keep things competitive. The combined arms was a lot of fun to try, but I need a lot more practice for it to be effective on the table.

The aggressive scouting with the Wiltfather coupled with my own forward deployments and the Sylvan Kin getting first turn was an absolute nightmare for me! I did what I could, but the Sylvan monsters ran circles around me. Reading the list, I questioned the LB on the Greaters, but those and the Master Hunter really let my opponent pile in some extra shooting damage throughout the game. I was immediately under immense pressure, and was down several hundred points by the time I even got a second turn in! My opponent had a neat list and played it well, as usual! 

Testing Conclusions

• Pole Arms Block. Getting shot off in the top of Round 2 means another lackluster showing for them. So it goes. They are a cheap horde to include though, so we’ll try them again sometime.
• Pikes and IW. Phalanx really shut down that Great Air Elemental, which was immensely satisfying for me. Shooting destroyed them, but they held up ok in the melee fight, as one might expect from Pikes. 
• Foot Guard Horde. Under such immense early pressure, I tried to preserve them for a late-game push. Unfortunately, positioning issues dampened their effectiveness and that of the push, and they were eventually brought down by my opponent’s shooting. I think I could have been more aggressive with them, but also think I need to support them better.
• Crossbows. They were my first deployment, believe it or not. Not getting first turn was a bummer, but the angle actually saved them a bit, letting them fire unobstructed into the Scouting Forest Warden for two turns before needing to reposition. They were absolutely not used well, but it still felt like they did ok, which was surprising. Their output is a little underwhelming, but I think their value is contributing a few damage here and there, and then surviving to the late game and helping with the scenario. I didn’t deploy them with the Ballistae, which is something I should be considering in the future.
• Triple Ballistae. Some war machines got the “Secured Position” special rule, letting them help with scenarios. The Ballistae did not. Grouping all of them together makes sense then, letting them focus their fire. They did pretty good in the first half, and then went ice cold when they shifted to the stealthy Gladestalkers in the last half. I know I don’t want to be shooting stealthy units, but the Tallspears and Elementals weren't threatening anything, sothey still seemed like the best target. The dice just weren’t there, despite me accidentally cheating and ignoring some cover penalties! Still, the Ballistae felt strong, and pairing them with Crossbows could definitely be fruitful in the future. I got lucky here in that the list had so little healing, so most of the early chip damage stuck around to be impactful later.
• Knights. Well, they certainly did not have a good game! Originally, I had placed them next to the Pikes with their leader point in the woods. I should have just kept them there, peeking out of the woods while tying the laces to their J Boots. I deployed too greedily with them, thinking I could maybe move up and zone out much of the center field with them. The greedy deployment was doubly punished by aggressive scouting from my opponent, and then seizing the first turn to avoid my knights entirely. I should have deployed more cautiously with them!
• Giants with Rampage. With all of the Wiltfather and Forest Shambler fights, Slayer would probably have been more impactful, but we don't tailor lists here. Struggling to land 25% of my hit rolls, their performance was underwhelming, regardless of their kit! Roughly 2-4 damage a turn is not a good showing for them, but dice are dice.
• ASBs. This was probably the best game yet for either of them! The Hexer went 5/5, and the angry Lutist even got a kill! They were stretched to the limit for Inspiring range though, and Lifeleech was largely forgotten, unfortunately.
• Generals on Winged Beasts. One was forced into a delaying action, but managed to buy more time that he should have. The other was patient, and managed to get two flank charges, a rear charge, and secure two routs for me. Not routing the regiment of Shamblers was a bummer at the conclusion of the game, but that was just a 50/50 roll that didn’t end up breaking my way.
• Waver Mitigation. My Knights had Headstrong, and I picked up a few Indomitable Will upgrades and even a Healing Brew. The Brew was an afterthought, but it ended up being the most impactful, healing 2 back for the Pole-Arms, while all the other units were just obliterated instead of ever being wavered. That’s dice though, and my opponent did a fantastic job of focusing down my units to break them.
• Aggressive Wiltfather. A late drop that is that aggressive proved to be very strong. I had more drops, and did what I could to blunt him, but it was still not enough! He is definitely a strong offensive choice, and really excelled out on a flank. 
• Forest Shamblers. They camped objectives and supported things pretty well here. I am still not impressed with the unit for the Herd, but the Awakened Shamblers seemed like a fun unit here, as you get a fair amount for the upgrade, and it should make for a more varied battle line with Elementals and Elves fighting shoulder-to-shoulder.
• Great Air Elementals. My plan was to try and keep them honest with my own fliers, so getting first turn was very impactful for for them, as this let them move up and threaten regions of the board first. They were still taxing to try and manage and mitigate, but I was really pleased with myself to being able to deal with both as the game progressed.
• Forest Warden. He’s definitely intriguing, especially with Greater Air Elementals in the mix, and I think I made the right call prioritizing shooting him off. He looks intriguing outside a shambling list too though. He’s got a Unit Strength, so can play for scenarios, and at 90 points, is still “quick” expendable chaff (compared to Snow Foxes at 80 points; Gur Panthers at 85; Gargoyles at 85…) but his speed comes from his Scout move, so forethought it needed when using him. Height 3 will also let him see things, so he could be a decent carrier of magic items. A neat pick for my opponent, and something worth looking into sometime in the future. 

We had a few rules goofs here, but those do tend to creep in on our weeknight games. It was a tough one for me, but this was still a very engaging game, and win or lose it is always a pleasure to play against Cartwright. A big thank you goes out to him for making the trip after a workday and fitting this great game in!